The judicial system, Orban's pain in the neck

The judicial system seems to be again in the spotlight, these days have been marked by a series of actions in the field, with an impact both on the activity of the magistrates and on the political scene.

After dealing with the budget rectification and establishing that the budget deficit by the end of this year will be 4.4% of the Gross Domestic Product, the Liberals have found a new priority - the repeal of the compensatory appeal law. This time, the Executive's priority is not real, but false, because repealing the law of compensatory appeal will not prevent those currently serving their prison terms from calling on the more favorable law. That is to say, the law that has led to over 20,000 offenders being released early from prison.

But the Orban Government wants to take responsibility for the repeal of the compensatory appeal and for the extension of the provisions regarding the retirement of the magistrates and thus to put its government mandate to use.

It is curious that the same Liberal government postponed the repeal of the Division for the Investigation of Offenses in the Judicial System,even though the MCV and GRECO reports expressly request this.

During this time, Tudorel Toader, the former Minister of Justice, sent a letter to the Venice Commission, seeking to keep his membership of this European legal structure, a document denying his involvement in the systematic attacks on the political attacks on the independence of the judicial system, even though what he claims in his letter is contradicted by his earlier actions.

In the midst of all these happenings, the Minister of Justice, Catalin Predoiu, is beginning the procedures for the selection of the Attorney General and the Chief Prosecutors of the DIICOT and the National Anticorruption Department, although the Liberals' partners in the Parliament, the USR, argue that the laws of justice must first be changed and only then should the contests in question be held.

Meanwhile, President Klaus Iohannis is signing decrees for the layoff of prosecutors and judges who have reached retirement age daily, and the judicial system is suffering due to improper working conditions for the magistrates and their continuously shrinking number.

There is a consolation: The European Public Prosecutor's Office is headed by Laura Codruţa Kovesi. The same Kovesi denied by Tudorel Toader - the one who is now kowtowing to the mercy of the Venice Commission - and who was dismissed by President Klaus Iohannis and the Constitutional Court of Romania.

Laura Codruţa Kovesi was going to present yesterday, in front of the members of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs of the European Union, the vision on the European Public Prosecutor's Office and her plans as European Chief Prosecutor.