Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced on Wednesday that the legislative package regarding judges’ pensions corrects two of the „three fundamental aspects that need to be addressed” in the system. The first change concerns the „very rapid” retirement of judges and prosecutors.
„No justice system in Europe allows judges to retire at the age of 48, as our system does, after 25 years of service (…). In practice, this project extends the retirement age to 65, which is a fair measure compared to other categories,” Bolojan stated on Antena 3.
Pensions reduced to a maximum of 70% of the last salary
Another element of the reform concerns the pension level. "Until now, there was an abnormality, namely that the judiciary pension was equivalent to the last salary, which does not happen anywhere (…). The proposal we make is that the pension amount should not exceed 70% of the last salary," the Prime Minister specified.
According to him, the average pension in the judiciary, currently at "4,800 - 5,000 euros," is expected to decrease to "approximately 3,500 euros."
Meeting at Cotroceni for mediation
The Prime Minister said he had a meeting with the President of Romania and representatives of legal institutions to discuss the transition to the new system.
"On this subject, we had a meeting at Cotroceni (…), and the President simply exercised his legal competence to mediate between institutions when divergences arise," Bolojan explained.
Judges' lawsuits: over two billion euros
The Prime Minister also highlighted the huge impact of lawsuits filed by judges for salary rights.
"In these years, we have had over 23,000 lawsuits brought by judges, which, of course, have mostly been won, causing the Romanian state to pay at least two billion euros only for salary differences - and we still have to pay about the same amount," he stated.
To avoid such situations, the Government aims to introduce a simple and predictable law this autumn.
"It is abnormal to have unclear salary laws that allow such approaches (…). It is necessary for us to come up with salary laws this autumn that are simple, clear, and predictable, including in the justice system, to avoid these actions," Bolojan emphasized.
"Respect for the judiciary, but also for social equity"
The Prime Minister also pointed out that the Government's objective is not to weaken the independence of the judiciary, but to correct imbalances.
"I have great respect for the judiciary (…), but the issue we are addressing now is the negative accumulations, the injustices in practice, compared to other social categories that cannot be denied and have accumulated over these years," concluded Ilie Bolojan.