Following the meeting between the CSM (Superior Council of Magistracy) and Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and Nicușor Dan, the President of Romania, Judge Elena Costache, the head of the CSM, rushes to give an interview to the TV station Digi 24, while neither the President nor the Prime Minister have made statements regarding the meeting.
Romanian magistrates are in open conflict with the Government due to proposals related to raising the retirement age to 65 and setting the pension amount at 70% of the last salary.
Leading up to and following the meeting on August 1, representatives of magistrates conducted a public communication campaign to exert pressure on the Executive and the President to abandon the bill that would halt the wave of rapid retirements and reduce magistrates’ pensions.
In response to public criticism, which targeted prosecutors and judges, as well as negative reactions from society regarding the magistrates' work period and their special pensions, it can be said that we are witnessing the most disastrous public communication campaign in recent Romanian history.
"Yes, I find it insufficient and I will tell you why I find it insufficient... At the Court of Appeal, net monthly: 20,000 lei... Tribunal: 17,948 lei... Court: 16,157 lei. Let's apply 70% of these amounts. It would be a pension of 11,309 lei. Under what conditions? What does it mean to retire with this amount? At what age? 65 years," stated Judge Elena Costache, in the interview given to Digi 24.
It should be noted that the CSM president calculates the above using the lowest salary as a reference, that of the Court, because at the Tribunal, the pension becomes 12,600, and at the Court of Appeal, 14,000 lei, which translates to 2,261 euros, 2,520 euros, and 2,800 euros, respectively.
In 2024, the average pension in Romania was 2,460 lei, equivalent to 500 euros. If these measures were adopted by law and passed by the Constitutional Court, then the average pension of a magistrate from the court would be four and a half times higher than the average pension of a Romanian citizen.
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We are unique
CSM's communication has been a disaster, primarily because a large part of the public opinion believes that magistrates are overly well-paid in relation to the performance of the justice system, and secondly, due to the extremely low level of trust in magistrates within society because of corruption, delayed trials, and the fact that many criminals go unpunished.
"From all points of view, we are unique... We cannot equate magistrates with other social categories. Judicial independence is tied to money," Judge Costache further stated in the shocking interview.
After the negative impact of the public stance expressed by the CSM head, the disaster continued, with the Council requesting through a statement that the television station publish the full interview, not just excerpts, which were later broadcast in news bulletins.
"Following the meeting at the Cotroceni Palace, organized at the initiative of the President of Romania and in the context of an extensive interview given by the President of the Superior Council of Magistracy on Friday, August 1, 2025, lasting over an hour, from which a fragmented audio-video montage was broadcast for a few minutes...," CSM stated in a release, indirectly expressing Judge Elena Costache's dissatisfaction with the fact that the discussion was not broadcast in its entirety.
In response, the Digi 24 television station published the full interview on their website, but the length of it did not change the main message, namely that Romanian magistrates reject the retirement age increase to 65 and insist that the minimum pension should at least match their last salary.
An Attempt at Resolution
However, the extended interview brings to the public's attention some less-discussed ideas. For instance, at the end of 2023, magistrates reached an agreement with Marcel Ciolacu, the Prime Minister at that time, and the majority coalition passed a law increasing the retirement age and regulating the pension amount, but in much more favorable terms than the proposals made by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
"Judges, prosecutors, judges from the Constitutional Court, assistant magistrates from the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Constitutional Court, as well as legal specialists... with at least 25 years of experience solely in these positions, can retire at the age of 60 and receive a service pension amounting to 80% of the base calculation represented by the average gross monthly allowances and bonuses received in the last 48 months of activity before retirement. The net amount of the service pension cannot exceed 100% of the net income earned in the last month of activity before retirement," as stated in law no. 282 of October 19, 2023.
Additionally, a progressive tax on three levels - 10, 15, and 20%, was introduced in Article 101 of the same law, applied in relation to the average salary. Thus, because magistrates' pensions far exceeded the average wage, the pension passed through all tax tiers.
Meaning, a retired magistrate paid 10% on the part of the pension equal to the net average salary in the economy, then, 15% on the difference between the net average salary in the economy and the gross average salary in the economy, and finally, 20% on the difference of the pension exceeding the gross average salary in the economy.
Notification from the European Commission and the Blocking of 2 Billion Euros
At that time, Marcel Ciolacu boasted, after the law received validation from the Constitutional Court, that he had solved the issue of special pensions, and the European Commission had accepted the measure, promising to unlock the funds from the NRRP, conditioned on reforms in this area.
However, on December 19, 2024, three weeks after the annulment of the presidential elections, the CCR, led by Marian Enache, a former politician who had been active in the PSD for decades, decided to annul the progressive tax regarding special pensions, maintaining a flat rate of 10% on the entire sum.
Following this decision, on February 25, 2025, the European Commission sent a notification letter to the Romanian Government announcing that the special pension reform had failed, and they were considering not releasing the funds allocated from the NRRP.
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan's proposals are a result of the CCR's decision and the notification from the European Commission, aiming to save 2 billion euros from the NRRP, funds blocked due to the lack of reforms in the area of special pensions.
Following the shocking interview by Judge Elena Costache, magistrates' campaign against the reform measures proposed by the Government continued and expanded throughout the entire justice system.
"The damage caused by the public image's impairment of the judicial authority is not only current, destabilizing the justice system, but also jeopardizes the future of the judiciary, by decreasing the profession's attractiveness, primarily, and by the constant stigmatization of the body of magistrates," stated a release from the magistrates.
For some time now, magistrates have linked the debate on special pensions to the destabilization of the justice system and its independence, exerting pressure on both the Government and society.
Unfortunately, the poor image that magistrates have among the public is directly related to the malfunctioning of the justice system and the lack of independence - the rich and powerful continue to evade punishment for repeated and serious violations of the law.
Corruption is flourishing in Romania, directly proportional to the length of trials and the hallucinatory motivations in many of them.
The Monstrous Alliance of Magistrates and CCR
The death of Ion Iliescu has once again brought to the public's attention the major failure of the justice system to establish guilt and responsibilities in the cases of the Revolution and the Mineriad, which have not reached the courts for 35 years.
"Romania has not had a president tried for crimes against humanity. The delay was made with the concealed will of the involved politicians. Let's eliminate the diversion and build national projects on the foundation of truth," stated Augustin Lazăr, former Chief Prosecutor of Romania, announcing the main reason why Ion Iliescu has not faced trial.
The magistrate's reaction says a lot about the independence of Justice in our country, which judge Elena Costache and others link to the debate on special pensions and retirement age.
The poor image that the body of magistrates has among the public is not recent, but at least a decade old, and is not determined by proposals coming from the Government, but by the revolt against the alliance formed within the system between magistrates and the Constitutional Court, leading to the hallucinatory situation where judges judge in their own interest and the Constitutional Court legislates, establishing their own level of remuneration, bonuses and allowances, tax regime, pension calculation, and retirement age, turning the judiciary into a privileged caste, disconnected from the economic realities of Romania.