Senate passes controversial laws

The Senate of Romania has amended two controversial draft laws in the field of justice and economy

Eugen Coroianu, 23.03.2021, 13:50

The Senate of
Romania on Monday endorsed to major initiatives by the ruling PNL and USR
amending a couple of draft laws, which sparked off heated debates in society when
they were first issued.

The first one repeals
the regulation introduced during the PSD ruling in 2018, allowing for the early
retirement of judges and prosecutors at the age of only 45 after only 20 years
on the job. According to the Liberals, the law was defying the Romanians in a
country where most of the people retire at 65, and that the new amendments
represent a return to normalcy, under which magistrates can retire at 60 after
25 years of work. Other personal criteria for early retirement, such as illness
or other issues, have also been covered by the law, the initiators explained.

According to
them, in its initial form, the law would have allowed for the early retirement
of a significant number of magistrates, a situation with a major impact upon
the good functioning of courts and prosecutor’s offices

The shortage of
magistrates would have also significantly impacted the quality of the Judiciary,
prolonging resolution time in certain files. For this reason, the provision
never came into effect but was prorogued every year. We recall that in this
case, the Senate is a decision-making body.

Also on Monday,
Romanian senators repealed a provision, which banned the selling of state-owned
shares in national companies and enterprises to loan institutions or to other
company where the state is a shareholder.

A provision on
the two-year suspension of any operations regarding the selling of state-owned
shares under realization was also repealed.

The draft,
initiated by the center-to-right coalition, allows for capitalizing on shares
with a view to avoiding severe impacts on social relations regarding the
economic freedom of operators where the state is a shareholder and of the free
movement of capital.

At the same
time, by diversifying shareholders, the government intends to achieve market
competitiveness and performance. Opposition senators from PSD and AUR have
opposed the project arguing that it is not the right time for state shares to
be listed on the stock exchange blaming the government for trying to sell the
state shares in major companies. The draft law will be submitted to the Chamber
of Deputies for approval.

(bill)