Five hours after the CCR decision, Ilie Bolojan insists, in his first reaction, that “Romania needs” the reform of magistrates' pensions. What will he do next?
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced on Monday evening, approximately five hours after the Constitutional Court rejected the government's project, adopted in Parliament, regarding magistrates' pensions, that this reform remains “a firm objective for the Government, adopted by the entire coalition”. “The CCR did not fundamentally reject the project of this reform, the objection was exclusively procedural, so the Government can resume the approach, which is a necessity”, the head of the Executive pointed out.
“I took note of the CCR's decision regarding the law on magistrates' pensions, established with a narrow majority of 5-4. The reform of magistrates' pensions remains a firm objective for the Government, assumed by the entire coalition. The CCR did not fundamentally reject the project of this reform, the objection was purely procedural, so the Government can resume the approach, which is a necessity”, Ilie said Bolojan, in a message published on his Facebook page on Monday evening, around 8:15 p.m., that is, approximately five hours after the decision of the CCR was announced.
“Nowhere in the world does one retire at the age of 48-50 and do not take a pension equal to the last salary. These are not political issues, but are socially and budgetaryly unbearable privileges. Not the Government, not a politician or a party need this reform, but Romania needs it”, the head of the government wrote.
“We understand that the CCR has set a procedural standard regarding how long the CSM's advisory opinion must be waited for,” said Bolojan.
“The Government, through the Ministry of Labor, requested the CSM's opinion on August 22, and the Government's commitment to this project took place after 10 days, on September 1, a period of waiting for the CSM's advisory opinion that 4 of the CCR judges considered reasonable. Of course, the standard set by the CCR will be respected”, concluded the Prime Minister.
CCR officially announced during the afternoon – more than three hours after the decision to admit the referral to the High Court on the law on the pensions of magistrates – what are the reasons why the normative act was declared unconstitutional. The only argument offered was the one related to the lack of the opinion of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM).
“Since Law no. 305/2022 (no – on the functioning of the Superior Council of the Magistracy) establishes a 30-day deadline for the issuance of the opinion by the CSM, the Government, as the initiator of the criticized normative act, has the obligation to comply with it”, said the CCR in the press release sent on Monday evening announcing that it accepted the objection of unconstitutionality formulated by the High Court of Cassation and Justice and found that the Law for the amendment and completion of some normative acts in the field of service pensions is, as a whole, unconstitutional.
The CCR invoked only extrinsic criticisms of unconstitutionality, i.e. related to the form of the law, not the content, because the constitutional judges did not analyze them.
The vote in the CCR was 5/4 for admitting the appeal to the Supreme Court, sources from the Constitutional Court told HotNews.
Following the decision of the constitutional judges, President Nicușor Dan was convinced that the law on magistrates' pensions will be changed during this year. The head of state also conveyed that he sees no reason for Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan to resign.
Nicușor Dan, “message for Romanians” after the CCR decision. How long is the head of state waiting for the issue of magistrates' pensions to be resolved
The head of government made no reference to the matter in his post on Monday evening.
The law declared unconstitutional by the CCR stipulated that the magistrates' pension could not be higher than 70% of the last net salary received, compared to 80% of the last gross salary received, as it is now.
The normative act also provided for the establishment of the retirement age for magistrates at the standard age of the public pension system, namely 65 years. Now, magistrates can retire if they have 25 years of service, and in the Bolojan law the provision was that in order to retire, magistrates must have 35 years of service.
Bolojan has hinted in the past that he is considering resigning if the project is rejected by the CCR.
The project to amend the magistrates' pension system was initiated by the Bolojan Government, which assumed responsibility in Parliament for this law on September 1. “We must restore justice, we must maintain respect for magistrates, but we must ensure a dose of equity. Romanian magistrates retire today at 48-49 years old, an average pension exceeds 24,000 lei, but many pensions even reach 35,000-40,000 lei, especially for magistrates who have also held management positions”, said Bolojan in the plenary meeting of Parliament.
A day after pledging the Government's responsibility for the package of measures, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan was asked by HotNews in a press conference if he would resign if the draft law on magistrates' pensions failed at the CCR.
“When you have an important project that is a milestone for making other similar decisions, if it doesn't pass, it's hard to assume that the Government still has the legitimacy to come up with similar measures in other areas”, answered the head of the Executive, at that time.
