Ilie Bolojan responds to Lia Savonea, to the accusations of interference in the activity of the Constitutional Court: “Those responsible will be sought”

After the head of the High Court, Lia Savonea, accused him of pressure and interference in the activity of the Constitutional Court through the letter sent to the judges regarding the risk of postponing the decision for special pensions, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan declared, on Digi24, that his letter was intended to present the CCR with all the data it must take into account.

“I thought it was common sense for the constitutional court to have all the data. It's not about pressure, I didn't ask them to give one sentence or another. When we lose the money from the PNRR, 231 million euros, they will look for those responsible,” said Ilie Bolojan.

He said the letter was just a warning about a delay in a decision on the magistrates' special pensions.

He also claimed that the retirement system of magistrates is perceived by Romanians “as a great injustice”. Its correction is a condition for the governors to gain the trust of the Romanians.

What does Bolojan's letter contain?

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan sent a letter to the president of the Constitutional Court, Simina Tănăsescu, on Friday in which he says that Romania depends on the decision of the CCR of February 11 in order to still have the chance to receive the 231 million euros related to the milestone regarding the reform of the magistrates' pensions from the National Program for Recovery and Resilience (PNRR).

The European Commission now considers that the milestone has not been met, but is waiting for the CCR's decision on the Government's project that reduces magistrates' pensions and increases their retirement age.

Bolojan says, in the document sent to the CCR, that the Minister of Investments and European Funds was informed, on January 30, that “based on the information available at this moment, the Commission considers Milestone 215 unfulfilled (no – regarding the reform of magistrates' pensions), resulting in the loss by Romania of the sum of 231 million euros”.

“However, the Commission will not transmit an official information letter regarding the evaluation results before February 11, 2026. Also, the Commission will transmit this information publicly only after this date, and will make a final decision based on the information transmitted by the Romanian authorities”, according to the letter sent by Bolojan to the head of the CCR.

Lia Savonea's reaction

In a press release called “Appeal to the prime minister for respect for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary” and signed by Lia Savonea, the head of the supreme court expresses her “serious concern” regarding the content and meaning of the letter sent by Ilie Bolojan to the president of the CCR, Simina Tănăsescu.

Savonea claims that the “warning” regarding the loss of some European funds, but also the request that the court take into account financial consequences, “represents an interference incompatible with the principle of separation of powers in the state”.

Lia Savonea also adds that the argument according to which the finding of the unconstitutionality of the draft law on magistrates' pensions would automatically lead to the loss of some funds from the PNRR is, “from a legal point of view, inaccurate”.

“The conditionalities assumed by Romania within the PNRR in the matter of service pensions have already been addressed by the previously adopted legislation, and the direct and exclusive link between the amounts invoked and the bill subject to constitutionality control is not supported by the applicable European normative framework,” Savonea also says in the quoted statement.

The first replica from the Victoria Palace

The spokeswoman of the Executive, Ioana Dogioiu, conveyed, on Friday, that the prime minister did not ask for a certain verdict and did not issue warnings, but presented “a factual situation”.

“The prime minister did not put any kind of pressure on the CCR, did not issue warnings, let alone ask for a certain verdict. He presented a factual situation, starting from the principle that a court must be fully informed when formulating a decision,” Dogioiu said.

The spokeswoman of the Executive also said that a similar approach was previously taken even by Lia Savonea, who submitted to the Constitutional Court an expertise on the evolution of magistrates' pensions.

“This is what Ms. Lia Savonea also considered necessary when she sent the CCR an expertise on the perspective of the evolution of magistrates' pensions, extremely questionable in terms of accuracy, however,” said the Government spokeswoman.