{"id":10578,"date":"2026-06-11T09:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=10578"},"modified":"2026-06-11T09:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:01:34","slug":"judges-in-romanias-csm-publish-list-of-politicians-ngos-who-impacted-judicial-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=10578","title":{"rendered":"Judges in Romania\u2019s CSM publish list of politicians, NGOs who \u201cimpacted judicial independence\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Judges’ Section of the Superior Council of Magistracy CSM, the body watching over the independence of the judiciary, adopted a 76-page decision<\/a> during its June 9 meeting, highlighting a number of politicians, journalists, NGOs, and others who allegedly impacted judicial independence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CSM stated<\/a> that all 239 courts in Romania (first-instance courts, tribunals, and courts of appeal) met on June 9 in general assemblies of judges. Through the votes cast, 98.6% of the judges present (representing 84% of all sitting judges) allegedly denounced the constant degradation of the rule of law in Romania through the sustained attempt by political power to subordinate the judiciary.<\/p>\n

The general assemblies of judges also rejected as unacceptable the provisions contained in the legislative proposal concerning judges\u2019 remuneration. Furthermore, the judges claim that the judicial system has been subjected to explicit manifestations of hostility from representatives of the political establishment holding leadership positions in Romania\u2019s central institutions, supported by part of the press and NGOs aligned with their message.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch manifestations, clearly generated by the desire to accumulate political capital and to exercise control over the judiciary, undoubtedly affect public confidence in magistrates and in the activity of the judicial branch,\u201d the institution stated.<\/p>\n

The CSM also published an extensive analysis, including excerpts from social media, to name its detractors and to portray their support for lowering the incomes of judges as attacks on judicial independence, public confidence in the administration of justice, and the image of the judiciary as a whole.<\/p>\n

The Judges’ Section of the CSM identified interim prime minister Ilie Bolojan as one of the main parties responsible for the deterioration of the judiciary\u2019s image, along with reformist politicians like Cristian Ghinea, Dominic Fritz, Oana Gheorghiu, Ana Birchall, but also NGOs like Funky Citizens, ExpertForum, Declic, and Corup\u021bia Ucide, and the journalists at Recorder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Attacks on the interim PM<\/h4>\n

At the same CSM meeting on Tuesday, the president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, Lia Savonea, delivered a harsh speech against interim prime minister Ilie Bolojan, accusing him of manipulating public opinion.<\/p>\n

The head of the High Court accused the Bolojan government of having \u201cprofessionally manipulated\u201d public opinion against the judiciary on two major issues, the magistrates\u2019 pensions and the statute of limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Savonea acknowledged that magistrates benefited from more favorable retirement conditions but accused Ilie Bolojan of delivering false messages during prime-time broadcasts, leaving Romanians with the impression that magistrates are a privileged category. She also stated that the issue of statutes of limitations was manipulated because the real culprits are parliamentarians and prosecutors who leave case files sitting in drawers for years.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, CSM has repeatedly been at odds<\/a> with the government over the draft of the new Wage Law for the budgetary sector, which they say undermines judicial independence by lowering magistrates’ salaries. The conflict is a continuation of a fight over magistrates\u2019 pensions<\/a>, which began in the summer of 2025<\/a>, as justice-system pensions exceeded even the salaries of active magistrates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later in 2025, a documentary\u00a0published\u00a0by the investigative platform Recorder<\/a> revealed how a structure coordinated and controlled through alleged benefits and penalties by High Court president Lia Savonea captured the entire judicial system over the past year. The investigation led to widespread protests against CSM and Savonea.<\/p>\n

Reactions to the report\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In reaction to the decision and the list, prime minister-designate Eugen Tomac stated that a strong democracy cannot exist without the rule of law and, likewise, that mature democracies have freedom of expression.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stronger replies came from the reformist center-right Save Romanian Union (USR). Many of those named in the CSM list were or are currently USR members.<\/p>\n

Diana Buzoianu, interim environment minister and USR member, noted that the CSM report was, in fact, a blacklist of those who dared to criticize the judiciary. \u201cThey made a list of people who dared to be critical and, with a marshal\u2019s baton in hand, declared themselves victims,\u201d she said on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Among the NGOs, Declic said that the CSM document was essentially a \u201cblacklist\u201d of journalists and civic organizations who pointed to problems in the judiciary. The association said it will continue to challenge the appointment of Lia Savonea as president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice in court.<\/p>\n

Rejections of the CSM decision also came from within the judiciary. The Judges\u2019 Forum Association of Romania said in a press release that the CSM report regarding attacks on judicial independence destroys any chance of dialogue between the judiciary and civil society and the other branches of government and creates serious doubt regarding the credibility of justice itself. The Forum also noted that the 3,580 judges who are said to \u201cdenounce the attempt to subordinate the judiciary to political power\u201d did not vote on such a document as presented by the CSM. Most were unaware of the documents\u2019 contents, according to the same source.<\/p>\n

Representatives of the association also claimed that the statement published by the Judges\u2019 Section of the Superior Council of Magistracy \u201cclearly shows that this authority does not want judicial reforms, consistently requested by the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Court of Justice of the European Union, etc., relevant European and international bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, the Forum noted that it is analyzing the possibility of taking legal action against the Judges’ Section of the Superior Council of Magistracy for the \u201cfalse statements\u201d concerning its members.<\/p>\n

radu@romania-insider.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

(Photo source: Inquam Photos\/George Calin)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Judges’ Section of the Superior Council of Magistracy CSM, the body watching over the independence of the judiciary, adopted a 76-page decision during its June 9 meeting, highlighting a number of politicians, journalists, NGOs, and others who allegedly impacted judicial independence.\u00a0 CSM stated that all 239 courts in Romania (first-instance courts, tribunals, and courts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}