Superior Council of Magistracy meets after Parliament appoints three members from civil society
The Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) consisting of three non-judges Tatiana Ciaglic, Ion Guzun, Alexandru Postica and magistrate Nina Cernat will convene on Tuesday, April 4, in a meeting.
On the agenda of the meeting is a referral to the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of certain provisions of the law on the Superior Council of Magistrates. The meeting will also examine the SCM’s action plan for 2023.
Next week, the new SCM will examine the requests of the courts of Straseni and Hincesti for the allocation of additional financial means to pay the compensation of dismissed judges and civil servants.
On Thursday 30 March, Parliament appointed three members of the SCM. Tatiana Ciaglic, Ion Guzun and Alexandru Postica were appointed to the SCM for a six-year term.
According to the law, the SCM is made up of 12 members. Six of them, who are not judges, are appointed by Parliament, with a vote of three-fifths of the elected deputies. With the General Assembly of Judges having postponed the election of permanent members of the SCM from among magistrates, the chairwoman of the Legal, Appointments and Immunities Committee, Olesea Stamate, previously explained to Ziarul de Gardă that the SCM can become functional with only four members (three non-judges and one magistrate from the old bench).
“(…) Eventually, if the Parliament votes today (ed. Thursday, 30 March) on the three (ed. non-judge candidates) proposed by the Commission, there will be four members and it (ed. SCM) becomes functional, it can take decisions from my point of view. It should not take decisions on judges’ careers, but rather decisions on administration, i.e. to release certain processes, to announce the necessary competitions (…). According to the law, the SCM is deliberative when 2/3 of the members in office are present at the meeting. There will be four in office, if these three are voted by Parliament (…). Taking into account that the composition is reduced to the majority of members from civil society and there is only one judge, obviously its legality in career decisions can be questioned, i.e. this SCM is to start unblocking certain processes, to launch competitions, so that in the meantime the General Assembly of Judges will appoint its representatives in the SCM and the SCM, already in full composition, can take over the processes and continue them (…)”, said Olesea Stamate.
