Almost all prosecutors’ offices in Romania, with a few exceptions, have suspended their activity indefinitely and decided to handle only urgent cases, to protest against the government’s project to reform the pension system.
The prosecutors’ protest was announced by the Superior Council of Magistracy through a press release posted on Thursday, August 28. Specifically, the move is directed against a decision by the government to slash pensions for magistrates planned for adoption next week.
As a result of the prosecutors’ strike, 16 prosecutor’s offices (all) attached to the courts of appeal, 46 prosecutor’s offices (all) attached to tribunals, and 169 prosecutor’s offices attached to district courts (out of a total of 182) have resorted to suspending their activity. They will only handle urgent cases, such as those in which preventive arrest or house arrest must be ordered or in which European arrest warrants must be executed.
Moreover, prosecutors asked the CSM to issue a negative opinion regarding the prepared reform. They also request the Superior Council of Magistracy “to assess the opportunity of notifying the Constitutional Court of Romania to establish the existence of a legal conflict of a constitutional nature between the Judicial Authority and the Government, on the one hand, and between the Judicial Authority and Parliament, on the other hand.”
Earlier this week, prosecutors of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Tribunal and judges of all the 16 Courts of Appeal in the country announced that they are suspending their activity “indefinitely” to protest the government project to cut magistrates’ special pensions.
Both strikes are directed against the government’s cost-cutting efforts. At the end of July, Romanian prime minister Ilie Bolojan presented the plan to reform the magistrates’ pension system, raising the retirement age to 65, the standard for employees in the country, and capping pensions to 70% of the net salary. The current formula used for magistrates’ pensions allows them to be calculated at 80% of the gross income, effectively making them higher than the salary.
To back its case, the government has argued that magistrates in the EU retire at the age of 65, while those in Romania stand out with an average retirement age of 47. Moreover, they have said that the magistrates cannot be the sole professional category to retain all its privileges while other state employees have their salaries or positions cut.
The issue has become a focal point in the executive’s campaign to curtail expenses and a roughly 9% budget deficit in the public sector.
(Photo source: Inquam Photos | George Calin)
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