Meeting at the Government for justice laws, but those present say that “administrative matters” were discussed. CSM judge: “a bit frivolous” proposals

A new meeting of the committee for the analysis and revision of the legislation in the field of justice was held at the Victoria Palace on Wednesday, attended by representatives of the Government, magistrates, experts and representatives of civil society.

At the end of the meeting, which lasted about three hours, two members of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) spoke about the fact that the discussions during the meeting focused more on administrative issues in the system, such as staff shortages, and not on those related to legislation.

Claudiu Drăgușin, CSM judge, told the journalists present at the Government that he came to the meeting to understand “what are the intentions of this working group, so that we can also understand what its competence is and in what parameters it proposes to carry out its activity”.

Drăgușin also explained that the topics addressed were rather administrative: “What was discussed today at the working group were some administrative issues, we did not come to legislative proposals. We discussed issues that we have communicated to the Government over time, personnel issues, how many clerks we need, so administrative issues”.

Legislative proposals “a bit frivolous”

The judge then said they had been sent legal texts which he considered “a bit frivolous”.

“Perhaps it would be appropriate to give an example: the continuity of the panel – it is proposed to have the death of the judge as an exception, and obviously I was wondering if we need to put this text in a law. I mean, I don't think there was any situation in which a judge remained in the panel after he died”, said Claudiu Drăgușin.

Asked about who sent these proposed changes to the law, the judge said it was not known. He drew attention to the fact that this is a problem of the working group: “The proposals that came are not fully accepted, we do not know who made them, why, they are not motivated and then practically our presence today wanted to determine these things”.

The member of the CSM stated that at the judges' section, the more than 1,000 legislative proposals were analyzed and that discussions are needed to correct the justice laws “but not in these parameters in which they were presented to us”.

Claudiu Drăgușin also listed some of the identification problems in the system, but said that they cannot be solved now, when there is “the public emotion in which this committee was created”.

“The appointment of vice-presidents should be done by competition, not by the CSM, is a matter that can be discussed. The composition of the governing boards, the promotion exams, as well, the improvement of the procedure can be discussed, but these things must be discussed coldly, with specialists, not in conditions of public emotions in which this committee was created”, explained the judge of the CSM.

“We want a more ambitious discussion from the Government”

Adrian Rista, lawyer and expert of the Funky Citizens association, who participated in Wednesday's meeting, said that the discussions were necessary.

“There are a number of issues that have been less addressed, especially by the Ministry of Justice. Last year, a National Strategy for Justice was adopted with fairly clear deadlines both for last year and for this year and for future years without a road map regarding the progress made,” explained the lawyer at the end of the discussions at the Government.

He said he would like “discussions to go into the area discussed in the public space”, such as matters related to the changing of judicial panels.

Asked about what was decided after today's meeting, Adrian Rista said that a series of deadlines were presented for the implementation of electronic systems in the justice system:

“A series of deadlines were presented for the Ministry of Justice to implement in particular the ECRIS 5 system and the electronic file. The specified month was March 2026, so quite soon, with a possible extension of the deadline until the summer.”

The representative of Funky Citizens said that they wanted a more ambitious discussion from the Government, “respectively entering the discussions and the problems, both at the level of principle and at the level of solutions”.

What does the Government say?

In a press release sent on Wednesday evening, the Government says that during the meeting, those present agreed:

• to develop a 5-year plan with measures to cover the lack of human resources in the courts and prosecutor's offices. The plan will be made by the CSM and the Ministry of Justice, and then analyzed by the working group until January 30

• to draft a law aimed at reorganizing the prosecutor's offices attached to the judges “into a unique structure at the level of each county”. It must be completed by January 30.

• that the SCM comes up with a project to reconfigure the judicial map, so that the courts “with a reduced degree of load” are abolished by February 28, 2026.

• carrying out an independent audit of the system of random allocation of cases. The procedure for appointing the auditor will start by the end of January 2026, and the report will be public by June 15, 2026.

According to the Government's statement, the next meeting of the working group will take place on January 21.

Who attended the meeting

At Wednesday's meeting of the committee, representatives of both sections of the CSM were present, both that of judges and that of prosecutors. They were joined by associations of magistrates such as the Legal Resources Center, the Judges' Forum and the NGOs Funky Citizens, Expert Forum, the Legal Resources Center and Declic.

On behalf of the Government, representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Oana Cambera and Răzvan Lupu, former USR deputies who were appointed in August 2025 as state advisers in the Chancellery of Prime Minister Bolojan, participated. And the Presidential Administration was represented by Cosmin Soare Filatov, presidential adviser on constitutional issues.

What duties does the working group have?

The initiative came about following revelations made by a number of magistrates in the Recorder documentary “Captured Justice”. The Prime Minister said in an interview for Cotidianul that by the end of January, the working group from the Government should come up with proposals for legislative changes in the field of justice.

The first meeting of the Government took place on December 23 after, the day before, President Nicușor Dan held three rounds of consultations with magistrates on the problems facing the justice system in Romania.

According to the text of the formation decision, the committee has the following main duties:

• proposes a series of measures to ensure the impartiality, independence and efficiency of the judicial act, in accordance with constitutional values ​​and international standards regarding the rule of law.

• analyzes the effects of the implementation of the justice legislation adopted in 2022, including the laws on the status of magistrates, the judicial organization and the operation of the SCM;

• analyzes and debates the opinions formulated by the representative associations of judges and prosecutors, as well as by non-governmental organizations regarding the organization and functioning of justice and the realization of the act of justice;

• organizes meetings with representatives of institutions, authorities and organizations, including from the international level, with competences or activity in the field of justice;

• requests points of view from institutions, authorities and organizations, including from the international level, with competences or activity in the field of justice;

• presents progress reports on the stage of the fulfillment of the measures and the exercise of the powers provided for in this decision.