Update 16.19: The government announced on Monday in a press release that the bill for the abolition of the Section for the Investigation of Judicial Crimes is on the agenda of today’s meeting The project can be consulted here
The draft retains the form proposed and debated by the Ministry of Justice, so that crimes committed by magistrates will be investigated by prosecutors appointed by the Prosecutor General of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, at the proposal of the Plenum of the Superior Council of Magistracy. for four years.
Initial article: Coalition leaders met on Monday in a lightning meeting to discuss the timetable for the abolition of the Special Section for the Investigation of Judicial Crimes, political sources told G4Media.ro.
According to them, the bill will be adopted in the government meeting scheduled today at 17.00. Tomorrow, the project will enter the parliamentary circuit.
The Permanent Bureau of the Chamber will establish the calendar of the legislative process. Most likely, at the end of the week, on Thursday and Friday, the project will be debated in the specialized commissions and next week the vote could take place in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies, and the project will be sent to the Senate.
Context
The Plenum of the Superior Council of Magistracy approved positively, on Friday, the draft law regarding the abolition of the Special Section, proposed by the Ministry of Justice, according to G4Media.ro sources.
The opinion was approved by 11 to 8 votes, the quoted sources specified.
The bill provides for the abolition of the Special Section, without the corruption cases of the magistrates being returned to the DNA.
DNA Deputy Chief Prosecutor Madalina Scarlat has expressed concern that, although the government claims it wants to abolish the Special Section, the competence to investigate magistrates for corruption does not return to DNA.
The deputy head of DNA made these assessments during a debate on the Special Section, organized at the beginning of last week at the Ministry of Justice, according to the transcript of the discussions published on the ministry’s portal, just.ro.
The SCM’s opinion is essential for the project to pass parliament quickly. “If you go to the Parliament with a project that does not have the approval of the SCM and the judiciary, do not pass”, declared the Minister of Justice Cătălin Predoiu in the debates regarding the dissolution of the SIIJ.
Three NGOs reject the draft law proposed by the Ministry of Justice on the abolition of the Special Section (SIIJ) and ask Minister Cătălin Predoiu to wait for the opinion of the Venice Commission before going with the draft in Parliament.
The Funky Citizens Association, the Declic Community and the Voices for Democracy and Justice Association point out that the current draft, which has been put up for public debate by the ministry, does not comply with the MCV’s requests or the recommendations of the Venice Commission.
“With such a law, Romania will not escape MCV monitoring and will again miss the entry into the Schengen Area due to the interests of politicians to slow down the fight against corruption,” the signatory NGOs show.
The three associations point out that the bill only formally abolishes the Special Section and sets up a new similar structure, with few prosecutors who do not specialize in investigating crimes of corruption or organized crime and who will be appointed by the SCM Plenum.
The current majority PSD-PNL-UDMR has agreed to abolish the Special Section, but the corruption cases of the magistrates should not be returned to DNA, but should be investigated by prosecutors of the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Offices of the Courts of Appeal.
On January 24, 2022, the USR announced that its request had been adopted in the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Venice Commission would be referred to issue an opinion on the independence of magistrates. from Romania after the exclusion from the judiciary of Judge Cristi Danileţ and the publication of the new project to abolish the SIIJ.
The Venice Commission could issue an opinion on March 18, 2022, according to official sources.
Above photo: I say photos / George Călin
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