“By postponing the elections of the SCM members, I understand that they want to perpetuate the serious situation in the judiciary,” Justice Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru said in reference to the General Assembly of Judges on March 17, when they voted to postpone the voting of SCM members.

“Today’s General Assembly of Judges was a chance to unblock the precarious situation in the judiciary by electing and forming a self-administrative body. With regret, by postponing the elections of the members of the SCM, I understand that, on the contrary, the intention is to perpetuate the serious situation in the judiciary.

Based on the majority of the opinions expressed by judges, I understand that the public interest was less important and that there is no desire to create a SCM with which to make a new start in solving the problems of justice,

(the appointment of judges, quicker resolution of cases, taking of important administrative decisions in the judiciary). In this way, the opportunity could be seized to be part of the justice reform and, above all, to restore the image of the judicial system. As Minister of Justice, I want a partner for the implementation of the EU accession agenda to strengthen the justice and anti-corruption fields. In the current circumstances, tough solutions are needed and, this time, accusations of meddling really cannot be made,” said the Minister.

Olesea Stamate: “I was a bit more optimistic about the number of honest and courageous judges”

“I did not have high expectations from the General Assembly of Judges. I expected that there would be no elections today. So it was not a surprise. But I think I was still a bit more optimistic about the number of honest and courageous judges”, said Olesea Stamate, chair of the Legal Affairs, Appointments and Immunities Committee.

“I know that there are enough honest judges in this system, who do their work respecting the law. Unfortunately, however, there are far fewer who are also courageous.

This is probably the reason why the system has not been able to clean itself up until now and we have had to intervene with extraordinary evaluation mechanisms.

“They are probably followed by the citizens, who also have little confidence in the judiciary”, said Olesea Stamate, referring to the “quality of the speeches” of the judges.

“Some (judges, editor’s note) talked about judges being the elite of society. This is true in a normal society. Not in ours, unfortunately.

From judges who could be/become the elite of the society, at this assembly I saw very few.

This strengthens our confidence that what we set out to do is right, and our determination to see it through to the end,” concluded the former Justice Minister.