The government accuses the ICCJ and the Bucharest Court of Appeal of refusing to transmit the sums owed by the state to magistrates in salary processes
The Government of Romania accuses the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ÎCCJ) and the Bucharest Court of Appeal of having refused to provide it with data on the billions of lei owed to magistrates, data requested for Romania's defense in a case pending before the ECHR, according to a response sent by the Government to the G4Media publication.
According to the quoted source, the Governmental Agent for the ECHR has requested from several institutions in the judicial system data on the number of salary lawsuits won by magistrates and the amounts paid or still owed by the state following these decisions.
The government claims that the lack of this information “creates a risk” that Romania will lose the process.
“The information submitted will create an incomplete picture, given that the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Bucharest Court of Appeal have not submitted any relevant information, although it is expected that they will be the owners of some of the largest payment amounts regarding salary claims. It should also be noted that the information submitted by the Ministry of Justice concerns exclusively the amount of the amounts paid, and not the amount of the amounts owed,” the Executive's response states.
According to the Executive, the ÎCCJ communicated that it does not have additional information compared to what is publicly available, and the Bucharest Court of Appeal cited the lack of centralization, the risk of errors and the limited time to justify the impossibility of transmitting the requested data.
The government says that, due to the refusal of the high courts to cooperate, it was forced to ask for a postponement of the response deadline, the new deadline being June 12, 2026.
In the case of Andriescu and others vs. Romania (application no. 34779/23 and 5 other related files), the plaintiffs, magistrates in office and pensioners, accuse the Romanian state of violating the right to a fair trial and the protection of property, because the Government successively staggered, through emergency ordinances, the payment of salary rights won by them in the courts.
Billions of lei paid and other billions outstanding
The data communicated to the Government indicate payments in the order of billions of lei to magistrates.
Thus, according to the information provided by the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, in the period 2006-2025, 3,997 decisions were issued regarding salary rights. By the end of last year, the state had paid about 1.7 billion lei, and another 1.12 billion lei was still owed.
In the case of the Superior Council of Magistracy, 5,626 court decisions were reported. According to the data submitted to the Government, approximately 118 million lei were paid, and approximately 135 million lei remained to be paid at the end of 2025.
Also, the country's appeals courts, with the exception of those in Bucharest and Târgu Mureș, reported that by the end of 2022, approximately 2.55 billion lei had been paid based on final decisions regarding salary obligations. The situation of the amounts still outstanding has not been transmitted to the Government.
The reaction of the head of the High Court
The President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, Lia Savonea, conveyed, for G4Media, that “we do not consider it appropriate to enter into a public or institutional dispute with a Government in a regime of dismissal
“We believe that a real and constructive dialogue must be held with the future Government, after its installation, legitimately and with full constitutional powers, in a framework based on mutual respect, institutional loyalty and responsibility towards the functioning of the rule of law”, declared Savonea.
She added that the High Court remains “open to a balanced and professional dialogue based on institutional behavior and loyal cooperation between authorities”.
