The General Assembly of Judges convened on March 17, 2023 in session. Only two items on the agenda: approval of amendments to the Regulation on the functioning of the General Assembly of Judges and election of permanent members of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) from among judges. The event takes place in the meeting room of the National Confederation of Trade Unions.

UPDATE 15:25 A vote was taken to interrupt the General Assembly of Judges and postpone the vote on the members of the SJC. The interruption was announced until 28 April.

UPDATE 15:10 Judges approved the creation of a working group to draft a statement on the state of affairs in the judiciary. The statement would be put to a vote at the next meeting of the General Assembly of Judges.

UPDATE 14:52 Magistrate Victoria Sanduța told the General Assembly of Judges that one of the most serious problems of the judicial system is the influence of politics.

UPDATE 14:20 Two candidates for positions in the SCM also addressed the assembly. Magistrate Ioana Chironeț, who passed the evaluation of the Pre-Vetting Commission for the position of member of the SCM, proposed a joint statement of the General Assembly of Judges “towards state powers trying to solve problems from outside”. The candidate for the SCM, Maria Frunze, spoke to the judges about low salaries, lack of staff and poor working conditions in the judiciary.

UPDATE 14:12 Several magistrates spoke to the Assembly. The main topic was the problems in the judiciary. It was also proposed to postpone the election of the SCM.

UPDATE 12:20 Nina Cernat, interim president of the SCM, and SCM member magistrate Victor Micu gave speeches to the Players’ Assembly and answered questions on the work of the Superior Council of Magistracy lately.

UPDATE 11:09 By an absolute majority vote, the agenda of the General Assembly of Judges was approved.

On the agenda were included:

• Presentation of the SCM report on the activity of the last period and the situation in the judiciary.
• Initiation of discussions on the Regulation on the functioning of the General Assembly of Judges.
• The opportunity and possibility of postponing the elections for the position of member of the SCM
• Election of permanent members of the SJC from among judges.

UPDATE 10:55 186 judges present at the Assembly meeting voted to initiate discussions on the Regulation on the functioning of the General Assembly of Judges.

At the proposal of magistrate Sanduța Victoria, the Assembly approved the inclusion in the agenda, before the discussions on the Regulation, of the topic of the presentation of the SCM report on the activity of the last year. It was also proposed to examine the real situation in the judiciary.

UPDATE 10:39 Judge Victoria Sanduța proposed the opportunity and the possibility to postpone the elections for the position of member of the SCM. Judge Aliona Miron spoke against postponement.

UPDATE 10:18 Judge Turcan Anatolie was elected president and Gheorghe Balan – secretary of the General Assembly of Judges.

UPDATE 10:08 The meeting of the General Assembly of Judges is attended by 330 magistrates.

The decision to convene the General Assembly of Judges was taken by the SCM at its plenary meeting on 14 February 2023. You can watch it by clicking here.

The latest amendments to the Law on the SCM stipulate that the new SCM is to be composed of 12 members: six career judges, representing the judiciary proportionally: four – from the courts, one – from the courts of appeal and one – from the SCJ, as well as six members of civil society, voted by the Parliament, after they also pass the evaluation of the Pre-Vetting Commission.

According to the legislation, the General Assembly of Judges is one of the organs of judicial self-administration and ensures the practical implementation of the principle of judicial self-administration. The General Assembly of Judges consists of the judges of all courts.

Voting of permanent and substitute members of the SJC, of the College for the selection and career of judges, of the College for the evaluation of the performance of judges is secret and takes place in a specially equipped voting booth under the supervision of members of the Special Commission. The decisions of the Assembly shall be adopted by a simple majority vote of the judges present and shall be signed by the President and the Secretary of the meeting and numbered consecutively for the current year.