Mobilization for justice

The justice laws are again at the forefront of public debates in Romania

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Bogdan Matei, 08.01.2018, 12:36

The year 2018 started just as 2017 ended in Bucharest: with virulent accusations against the government coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and supported by the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. The accusations refer to the coalitions attempts to subordinate magistrates and stop the anti-corruption fight. Starting on January 1, 2018, over 200 people protested in front of the government headquarters in Bucharest against the swift modifications brought to the justice laws by Parliament in December, given that the speed at which Parliament usually makes laws is quite slow.

During Fridays meeting of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, President Klaus Iohannis lashed at the debates held in the special parliamentary commission for the justice laws, claiming that the procedure was “freshly concocted and talks were held by “silencing the right wing opposition represented by the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and the Peoples Movement Party. Hundreds of people took to the streets in Timişoara (in the west) on Saturday, and in Cluj (northwest), on Sunday, to call on the Government and Parliament to observe the independence of the judiciary.

Also on Sunday 19 NGOs asked President Iohannis, in an open letter, to mediate the conflict between the state and the society. The signatory organizations say that the political power is trying to undermine the anti-corruption fight, to endanger the independence of prosecutors and to subordinate the judiciary.

The NGOs want the president to call for an opinion from the Venice Commission, which should clarify whether the modifications brought to the justice laws are compatible with the fundamental standards of the rule of law. In reply, the power representatives in Parliament, the Government and the mass media keep reiterating that the laws had to be revised, so as to be harmonized with the decisions of Romanias Constitutional Court and with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, where Bucharest lost many trials because of the anomalies in courts and penitentiaries. Unchanged for 13 years, that is before Romania joined the EU, the justice laws allowed for abuses by prosecutors and judges, claim the supporters of the modifications to the justice laws.

Nevertheless, analysts criticize the power for the hasty and chaotic manner in which they passed the laws. They recall the contribution of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate following which a former prime minister was sentenced to prison, an incumbent prime minister was prosecuted, a judge of the Constitutional Court as well as the general mayor of Bucharest and the mayors of the capitals 6 sectors were arrested. Accused of corruption are scores of former members of the Government and Parliament, town mayors, county councils presidents and prefects, on the right or the left of the political spectrum, in power or in opposition, and analysts say that by changing the justice laws, politicians are actually trying to protect themselves and become an intangible caste. (Edited by D. Vijeu)