Is there a quick retirement for 1,500 magistrates in Romania? There will be big problems if what is being circulated is true. So what is the reason why magistrates will flock to retire.
Is the rapid retirement of 1,500 magistrates coming? That would be big trouble
The Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) criticized the project on special pensions under debate in Parliament
Thus, the CSM claims that an unreasonable increase in the retirement age for judges and prosecutors could lead to the retirement of no less than 1,500 magistrates by the end of 2025, according to Agerpres.
Marius Budai announced the increase in the retirement age
The CSM’s reaction appeared after the Labor Minister, Marius Budai, informed on Monday that the retirement age will gradually increase to 65 for all Romanians, following discussions with the European Commission regarding the elimination of special pensions.
The change will be applied by introducing amendments in the Parliament.
How many magistrates would be good to retire this year
Thus, in a decision adopted on Thursday by the SCM Plenary, it is stipulated that, at the end of 2023, 540 judges and 331 prosecutors would be eligible for retirement.
In 2024, another 273 judges and 73 prosecutors would be eligible, and in 2025 another 199 judges and 111 prosecutors could retire, for a total of 1,527 magistrates who can retire by the end of 2025.
To see how things are, you can observe the situation at the High Court of Cassation and Justice, where out of a scheme of 122 posts, only 104 judges are working, of which 82 meet the legal retirement conditions or will meet them until the end of this year.
What is the situation at PÎCCJ
In addition, at the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, out of the scheme of 161 positions, 68 prosecutors actually work, of which 28 already meet the conditions for retirement by the end of 2023.
Currently, according to the CSM, there are 1,129 vacant positions of judges, out of a scheme of 5,304 positions, respectively 818 vacant positions of prosecutors, out of a scheme of 2,948 positions.
Why are there many vacancies?
The large number of vacancies was created due to the wave of retirements from the judiciary in recent years, as a result of discussions in the public space regarding the elimination of special pensions. He retired as soon as the conditions were met to be able to benefit from such special pensions.
Last but not least, for fear of losing their special pensions, the number of judges and prosecutors who left the judicial system last year was almost double compared to 2021.
What the CSM says about the retirement conditions for magistrates
“Any change to the retirement conditions, both from the perspective of the method of calculation, as well as from the perspective of the mandatory minimum length of service and the retirement age, cannot intervene untimely, affecting the natural expectations of the magistrates in office, who would fulfill these conditions in the future .
Therefore, the application of legal provisions of this nature can only be carried out in stages, over a reasonable period of time, precisely to meet the requirement of predictability of the normative framework, constantly evoked in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court”, says the CSM.
