275 judges in Moldova have submitted a petition to Parliament requesting that the Constitutional Court (CC) ruling of 6 December be taken into account when setting the reference value in the state budget law. The CC had previously ruled that the adjustment of judges’ salaries should be based “at least on the average annual inflation rate at the date of adoption of the State Budget Law for the following year”. An announcement to this effect was published on Friday, 9 December, on the Facebook page of the Chisinau Court, Centre seat.

Asked by Ziarul de Gardă, Livia Mitrofan, a magistrate at the Chisinau Court of Appeals, said that “the draft Law on the State Budget has been approved (ed. by the Government), but the reference value has not been increased, which is multiplied by the salary coefficient, and it appears that the salary is intact – 2500 lei, but the inflation rate has already not been taken into account and is to be increased according to the Law on the State Budget, so that it complies with the legislation. That is why it is also related to the Law on the State Budget because the law establishes the reference values (…)”.

Magistrates claim that in order to avoid “a possible declaration of unconstitutionality of the law on the state budget for 2023, on the side of establishing the reference value of the salary of judges and members of the CSM (Superior Council of the Magistracy, ed.)”, they request the amendment of an article of the Law on the state budget for 2023 “by changing the reference value for judges from 2500 lei to 3365.5 lei and by changing the reference value provided for in Article 10 letter e) – from 2600 lei to 3500.12 lei”.

“Although the Constitutional Court established an obligation for the Government of Moldova to increase the salaries of judges and members of the Superior Council of Magistracy according to the average inflation rate at the time of adoption of the law on the draft state budget, there is no provision for this in the draft submitted to Parliament for consideration.

Based on the above-mentioned Constitutional Court ruling, the size of the reference value for calculating judges’ salaries from 1 January 2023 must be adjusted and based at least on the average annual inflation rate at the time of adoption of the Law on the State Budget for 2023,” according to the judges’ petition.

Reached by Ziarul de Gardă, Svetlana Rudenco, a consultant in the communication and public relations directorate of the parliament, said that some time ago “a group of people went and submitted this official address. The address has been registered, it is to be examined according to legal procedures”.

On 6 December 2022, the CC declared constitutional Articles 12(15) and 29(15). (2) of the Law of 23 November 2018 on the Unified System of Salaries in the Budgetary Sector, which refer to basic salaries and transitional reference values, insofar as “the annual adjustment of the size of the salary reference value for judges and members of the Superior Council of Magistracy is mandatory and is based at least on the average annual inflation rate on the date of adoption of the State Budget Law for the following year”.

The High Court, which partially admitted the application lodged by the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) to review the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Law on the Unified System of Salaries in the Budgetary Sector, recognised as constitutional Article 12 para. (16) and Annex No. 4 Table 1 of Law No. 270 of 23 November 2018 on the unitary salary system in the budgetary sector, in the part relating to judges and members of the CSM.

Findings of the Constitutional Court

The High Court considered that members of the CSM (judges and non-judges) “must benefit from guarantees of their independence and impartiality”.

“The Court set out a number of considerations regarding the appropriate level of remuneration for judges. Given that inflation erodes the value of salaries and undermines financial security, the Court held that judges’ remuneration must be protected from monetary fluctuations. This objective can be achieved by adjusting salaries in line with the inflation rate or by other mechanisms which take account of changes in the prices of basic goods and services, as in the case of the indexation of pensions.

The level of salary influences the decision of judges whether or not to remain in the profession. Most judges enter the profession when they are young, planning a long-term career. They should not be put in the position of having to exhaust their personal resources or go into debt in order to stay in the profession.

The Court also considered that members of the Superior Council of Magistracy (judges and non-judges) must be guaranteed their independence and impartiality. Their remuneration must correspond to the position they hold. The Court stated that the legislation must provide for the necessary mechanisms to ensure that the real value of their salaries is maintained at a level commensurate with their function as guarantors of the independence of the judiciary,” CC representatives said.

The draft law on the state budget for 2023 was approved by members of the Cabinet of Ministers on 7 December, just hours after it was published on the portal particip.gov.md and on the website of the Ministry of Finance. Subsequently, the draft state budget law for 2023 was endorsed by the relevant parliamentary committee and is to be examined by the Parliament.