The CSM complains about a large shortage of judges: “The number of INM graduates and judges who take the capacity exam is insufficient”
The Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) asks the Government to allow the organization of competitions for admission to the magistracy for persons with 5 years of experience in legal positions, arguing that there is a great shortage of judges, despite the promotion of INM graduates to the positions of trainee judges.
The CSM asks the Government to allow the organization of competitions for judges. Photo by Eduard Enea
“During January 2026, related to the shortage of judgesrespectively 751 vacancies, the Section for Judges of the Superior Council of the Magistracy publicly requested the executive power to assume and adopt concrete legislative measures, which would allow the organization of the competition for admission to the judiciary for persons with 5 years of experience in legal positions”informed the CSM on Wednesday.
The Section for Judges specifies that, until now, no legislative measures have been adopted to organize the competition for direct admission to the judiciary, and the Council was not informed why a derogation in the field of justice is not possible, as was done in the other fields, such as health or education, although the shortage of personnel is at least comparable to the one that allowed derogations.
In support of its request, the Judges' Section of the CSM cited the fact that the number of vacant judge positions increased to 759 from 751 positions in the previous month, the deficit remaining around 15%, so that the proper functioning of justice in order to achieve a quality act of justice continues to be seriously affected, to the detriment of protecting and guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of citizens.
The section for judges claims that it has resorted to all the procedures provided by law for the appointment of judges, in order to cover the shortage of personnel, as follows:
· 174 graduates of INM – 2023-2025 promotion – were appointed to the position of trainee judge, starting from June 1, 2025, respectively from October 2, 2025.
· as a result of the procedure for appointing prosecutors to the position of judge launched in May 2025, 22 prosecutors were appointed to the position of judge.
· between October 2024 and April 2025, the capacity examination of judges and prosecutors took place, with 162 judges being appointed.
· in the procedure for reinstatement in the position of judge for former judges, launched during 2025, the Section for Judges appointed 7 judges as of September 2025.
· the competition for admission to the judiciary, launched in 2024, was completed, with 104 judge positions at the courts being filled, starting on May 7, 2025.
“The section for judges reiterates, as it has already been stated for the information of the society, that the legal provisions that blocked the organization of competitions for admission to the judiciary only generate the premises for the amplification from one month to the next of the chronic lack of human resources at the level of the courts, and another mechanism for the short-term filling of vacant positions is not provided by law, the number of graduates of the National Institute of Magistracy and of judges who take the exam capacity being insufficient in this regards”, the magistrates sent.
However, we remind you that, according to the official data of the National Public Pension House (CNPP), no less than 167 magistrates retired during the year 2025.
