Appeal from civil society to Nicușor Dan regarding the head of the prosecutor's office: “We know you have more information, that worries us the most”

Several civic organizations asked the president Nicușor Dan not to appoint to the leadership of the prosecutor's offices people who have problems of professional skills or moral integrity and to participate in person at the CSM meetings where the candidates are interviewed.

The call to the head of state made by the nine organizations, including Corruption Kills, Declic or Initiativa România, came on Tuesday, the day when interviews began with the prosecutors proposed by the Minister of Justice, Radu Marinescu, to the head of the General Prosecutor's Office, DNA and DIICOT.

The civic organizations are the ones that participated in Friday's protest in Cotroceni against Marinescu's proposals. Then, Nicușor Dan came out to talk to the demonstrators, to whom he said that “I have a hundred times more information”.

Why do they say they are worried?

They say the president does indeed have access to more information than public opinion, naturally, but “that's also the issue we're most concerned about.”

“And the former president of Romania was informed by the state structures, but this did not prevent him from making wrong decisions that contributed to the degradation of the rule of law and the consolidation of networks of influence within the institutions”, says the message to Nicușor Dan.

According to the organizations, their concern “is that the information on which you are going to make these decisions comes from the same sources that:

• they failed in combating hybrid warfare and disinformation coming from the Russian Federation;
• they tolerated or even facilitated the emergence of extremist political constructions;
• they contributed to the stigmatization of some members of civil society;
• they allowed the capture of important areas of the national economy through opaque mechanisms of influence.”

What the organizations are asking the president

• “Do not appoint to the management positions of the prosecutor's offices magistrates on whom there are serious suspicions of professional competence or moral integrity, which have been expressed publicly but also as a result of internal analyses;
• To personally participate in the meetings of the Superior Council of Magistracy where these appointments are analyzed;
• To use the constitutional prerogatives of the President to enforce real standards of integrity and professionalism;
• To initiate a real process of reforming the judicial system, in accordance with the promises made in the electoral campaign.
• To formalize a routine of periodic consultation at the level of the presidential administration with civil society.”

I ask him to respect what he promised in the campaign

They say that during the election campaign, Nicușor Dan declared that appointments to key positions in the judiciary must be without compromise and that integrity and professional reputation must be decisive criteria.

“The relationship between an elected leader and society is a social contract. Campaign promises are the clauses of this contract, and when they are ignored, civil society has the moral duty to intervene and demand its respect. Our protest is an expression of civic responsibility, falling within this approach of warning and sanctioning those who forget to keep their promises,” the organizations say in their appeal to the head of state.

“That is precisely why we consider it our duty to remind you of these commitments when there is a risk that they will be abandoned. Romania needs an independent, credible and respected judiciary, as well as courageous and independent magistrates. The decisions you will take in the next period will have a major impact on this direction”, they also transmitted.

The schedule of hearings from the CSM

The first to give an interview in front of the CSM on Tuesday is Codrin Horatiu Miron, selected by the Minister of Justice for the position of head of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism, reports Agerpres.

The interviews will continue in the following days, but also next week, as follows:

• March 11 – Alex Florența and Gill-Julien Grigore-Iacobici – for occupying two positions of deputy chief prosecutor of DIICOT;
• March 12 – Cristina Chiriac – proposed for the position of general prosecutor and Marius Voineag – deputy of the general prosecutor;
• March 16 – Ioan Viorel Cerbu – for the position of chief prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate;
• March 17 – Marinela Mincă and Marius Ionel Ştefan – two positions of Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the DNA.