President Nicușor Dan held a press conference at the Cotroceni Palace on Wednesday regarding the special pensions reform.
The head of state stated that it is completely absurd for the pension received by a magistrate who chooses to leave the system to be equivalent to their salary.
- Bolojan announces raising the retirement age for magistrates to 65 years. Draft of the special pensions project
- Augustin Zegrean challenges Bolojan to explain what "only for the future" application of magistrate pensions reform means
- Radu Marinescu: Ministry of Justice has no bill for magistrates' pensions, the prime minister presented "a basis of ideas"
"It is completely absurd that in the current law, the pension received by a magistrate who chooses to leave the system is equivalent to their salary, which encourages people to leave the system," the president said. According to him, this phenomenon has led to the loss of many specialists.
Nicușor Dan mentioned that he had to analyze several retirement requests, to be precise, 76. However, two magistrates withdrew their requests and decided to remain in the profession.
President underlined that 70% of the retirement requests do not specify a precise retirement date, thus posing a question to the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM).
"From the analysis of these 74 retirement requests, a question arises for the CSM: What is this chaos? 70% of the retirement requests do not specify a precise retirement date," stated the head of state.
Therefore, Nicușor Dan stated that he wants a magistrate who retires to announce it 90 days in advance.
The president conveyed a message of balance in the debate on special pensions, emphasizing that Romania is facing a budget crisis and that solutions need to be discussed calmly and rationally, not in confrontational terms.
"Let's reach an agreed solution so that in 10 years, any young person considering whether to become a magistrate or lawyer knows what future they have in this country. If we start insulting each other now, I don't think we'll get very far," the president stated.
Spotmedia.ro presented, in LIVE TEXT format, the statements of President Nicușor Dan
- Four messages related to justice and the retirement of magistrates. It is completely absurd that in the current law, the pension received by a magistrate is equivalent to their salary. This encourages people to leave the system. We have already lost many specialists, and the quality of justice has decreased.
- I want to express my gratitude and respect to the magistrates who choose to remain in the system, despite being encouraged to leave.
- I had 76 retirement requests to analyze. Two magistrates withdrew their requests and chose to stay in the profession. In two of the requests, the magistrates state that they would not retire if it were not for all this flood of information. I intend to speak with them on the phone to convince them to stay.
- The analysis is completed on the 74 remaining files, which will be published in the Official Gazette on Friday. Magistrates who may have changed their minds can write to me until Friday afternoon.
- Regarding the new law on magistrates' pensions, it is agreed upon. The rights of those who already have this right will not be affected.
- From the retirement requests arises a question for the CSM: What is this chaos? 70% of these requests do not specify a precise retirement date. A clear retirement date must be provided. Even if you work in a bakery or a furrier's shop, people who retire take care not to disrupt the flow and specify a retirement date.
- There is a rule that the CSM has established, which states that a magistrate who wants to retire must notify the court where they work 90 days in advance.
- No one predicts when retirement will occur, and my colleagues are called and asked when the president will sign. The president is not a notary. That's not what the Constitution says.
- How I want us to work from now on. I want a magistrate who retires to announce it 90 days in advance; during these 90 days, the CSM and the president can conduct the necessary checks, and during those 90 days, the magistrate will be removed from panels. When they retire, they should have no further obligations.
- Studying these files, I noticed a provision in the magistrates' status law that, in my opinion, is incorrect, and I will ask the government to include it in the second set of measures: the reintegration of magistrates already retired.
- The law states that a magistrate who has retired within a 3-year period from retirement can be rehired, and when they do so, they receive the judge's allowance and 15% of their pension. This is not fair. It is not right for a magistrate to leave, then return and receive 15% more. I will request that this possibility be removed from the law on the status of magistrates. My proposal, of course, we can discuss it, is to extend the period not to 3 years but to 5 years, precisely because, especially in these last 5 years, there has been a discussion that was never very clear about what will happen with magistrates' pensions, 5 years in which the retired judge should be able to return only with their allowance to the same court from which they left.
Questions:
Dragoș Anastasiu was your honorary advisor. Did you know about the case he was involved in, considering he had an ORNISS certificate?
- I did not have this information. He was an honorary advisor to Mr. Bolojan, and during this time, he obtained an ORNISS certificate. He continued to have it until he resigned from the government. The checks carried out for ORNISS are those vulnerabilities that arise from various forms of association with individuals who are not friendly to the Romanian state.
Should Marian Neacșu leave the Government?
- I was in parliament during the 2016 – 2020 term, and there were several dignitaries who experienced the same situation as Mr. Neacșu. The legal provision is not explicit enough to prevent this type of situation, the hiring of a relative in the parliamentary office. That's my answer. It's a coalition where each party decides. Each party decides on the individuals they nominate.
When will the heads of the services be appointed?
- After a discussion with the parties, in the following weeks.
You mentioned chaos at the CSM. What chaos are you referring to?
- Chaos regarding retirement requests. It is not acceptable for this elite institution to lack minimal predictability regarding retirements. We need to have a dialogue on the issue of magistrates' pensions; we are all responsible individuals. Unfortunately, we have seen a decrease in the quality of justice in the last 4-5 years, and society obliges us to have a dialogue. I will attend CSM meetings.
Will you meet today with Cătălin Drulă. Have you chosen your successor for the Mayor of Bucharest?
- I discussed with Mr. Drulă many things, especially related to transport in Bucharest. You know he is passionate about this issue. We also have some elections, probably to be decided in today's coalition meeting, regarding the date of the Bucharest elections. The main issue in Bucharest is transportation; someone with expertise in transportation is welcome in this competition.
Does he fit the profile of a Mayor of Bucharest?
- Definitely, yes.
What do you tell Romanians when they see that the average pension of magistrates is 25,000 lei?
- Let's look at the salary. There are 4-5000 magistrates. It is good for magistrates to be well-paid because the social importance of their work is significant, and to prevent them from being tempted by various collateral issues when debating important causes, they need security, comfort in their work. Whether the salary should be 3,000 or 5,000 or 6,000 euros is a debate we need to have. Regarding pensions, the pension relative to the salary, this is our issue, and this is one of the discussions to be held in the coming days, whether it should be 70-80% of the salary, precisely to encourage people to stay in the system when they are at the peak of their professional abilities.
The Government capped the hazardous conditions allowance, but magistrates increased their risk allowance and confidentiality allowance. What image is conveyed in society?
- It is a necessary dialogue that we will have, and at the end of it, we will close several things. We need to provide predictability for the magistrate profession and, on the other hand, close the often unfair image that magistrates have in society. We need to achieve social peace on this issue.
Have you ever given a bribe?
- I don't remember.
Maia Sandu warned that Russia is preparing to interfere in the elections in the Republic of Moldova. What is Romania doing?
- Once again, I turn back to those statements from July 18, from NATO, the European Union, and the British Government, stating that there is Russian interference in Europe. There is a hybrid war of Russia in Europe, with a cyber component and a disinformation component. So, these are facts. For the Republic of Moldova, the facts are even clearer and more intense. Because there, beyond these two components, there was also a component of buying votes, proven in several thousand cases investigated by the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Moldova. What Romania can do is, without interfering with the electoral process, provide technical expertise on many components. For example, on the cybersecurity component, it is clear that we are better than the Republic of Moldova, and at the request of our counterparts, we can help them.
How can one work in the Government after the Minister of Justice criticized what the Prime Minister said regarding pension reform?
- We are in a position where Romania needs stability, and this stability is achieved through the collaboration of political structures that traditionally had divergent opinions. The fact that they continue to work together is a success and a sign of responsibility. Both the Minister of Justice and the Prime Minister will be part of the dialogue in the coming days. This is our profession, we represent parts of society that have different opinions. We must mediate, that's our job.
Do you have any new information about the visit to the USA?
- In September, there is the UN General Assembly that the Foreign Minister will attend. I believe that a presidential visit to the USA needs to be very well prepared, especially on the economic side. Our goal is to connect economically. Probably at the beginning of next year, something like that.
Are you considering a referendum to change the Constitution if the pension law is declared unconstitutional?
- I don't think it's feasible. I hope we can have a discussion with legal experts at the table and find a stable solution to solve the problem. The huge problem we have is not the law, but the Judicial Inspection, which judges partially and sometimes plays politics. This is where we need to focus.
Did you know that Dragoș Anastasiu had a friendship relationship with Nicu Gheară?
- I believe that services should prevent when there is a risk to national security. In Mr. Anastasiu's case, it was more of a risk to his image and morality. There was no risk of being blackmailed or having his duties affected.
You blocked the approval for the Holocaust Museum when you were mayor. How will the relationship with the Jewish community evolve in this context?
- The Elie Wiesel Institute made a public acquisition on behalf of the Romanian Government. They made a public acquisition in which the project theme was the restoration of the respective building and its functionality as the Holocaust Museum. This auction was won by a team of builders and architects who came to the Capital City Hall, obtained several urban planning certificates. And to our surprise, in 2022, they came with a proposal that, not respecting the project theme and the architectural value of the building, suggested its demolition and the construction of a single building in its place, which we did not agree with because it violated the regulations of the protected area. There were several rounds of discussions, and around mid-2023, through an urban planning certificate that everyone agreed on, they decided what to preserve, about 5% of the existing building, namely the facades and some interior stairs, allowing for the demolition of some floors in the project so that higher exhibits could be displayed, some technical issues. After another 4-6 months, the team of architects came back with a project that did not respect the agreed urban planning certificate. They asked for another certificate to demolish even more things. That's half of the problem. The second half of the problem is that the construction on Calea Victoriei has parts that belong to other owners, Transelectrica and I don't remember exactly who now... Article 1 paragraph 1 of Construction Law 50 says that you can issue a permit only for the owner. Whenever there is no agreement of the owner for someone else to operate in their part of the building, the permit cannot be issued, and this seemingly trivial ownership issue has not yet been resolved by the Romanian government until the moment I left the position of mayor. In short, that's the story of the Holocaust Museum.