Romania\u2019s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) issued a negative opinion on the new bill regarding magistrates\u2019 pensions. The move is only the latest development concerning a heated issue that led to tensions between the executive and the judiciary branch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CSM\u2019s opinion is consultative, and the government led by Ilie Bolojan can still take responsibility for the legislative proposal<\/a> that cuts the pensions of magistrates by 30%. The same proposal increases retirement age from 48-50 to the standard 65.<\/p>\n The president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, Lia Savonea, told Digi24<\/a> that she will give \u201ca categorical vote against\u201d at the CSM meeting.<\/p>\n In turn, CSM vice-president Claudiu Sandu explained that all courts and prosecutors\u2019 offices voted against the new initiative of the executive, while the minister of justice, present at the CSM meeting, abstained from voting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing consultations with colleagues in the country, both prosecutors and judges recommended issuing this negative opinion on the draft law, so we, being an elected and not appointed body, are somehow indebted to our colleagues to respect their will,\u201d the CSM vice president added, according to Digi24.<\/p>\n He also said that the vote was a \u201csymbolic protest,\u201d meant to draw attention to the legislative inequities brought by the changes.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, there will be three types of pensioners in the magistracy: the \u2018Dragnea era\u2019 pensioners with a pension higher than their salary by 20\u201325%, the 2023 pensioners with a pension of 100% of the net salary, and the next ones, who will work until 65 and will have such a regulation,\u201d Sandu explained.<\/p>\n Justice minister Radu Marinescu also commented on the CSM opinion, saying that when the status of any professional category is reformed, that category must also be consulted. The government already knew \u201cthe opinion of the magistracy\u201d about this reform of special pensions, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both Marinescu and the CSM vice-president rejected the idea that there is a conflict between the executive and the judiciary.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new bill on magistrates\u2019 service pensions was published last week, and the CSM had 30 days to issue a consultative opinion. According to the new project, the pension amount for magistrates will be 55% of the calculation base, represented by the average gross indemnities from the last 5 years, but no more than 70% of the last net indemnity. Also, the transition period to the retirement age of 65 will be 15 years, calculated starting January 1, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n Previous talks<\/a> between the government and representatives of judges and prosecutors in Romania, mediated by the president, failed to reach a consensus.\u00a0<\/p>\n