Justice Minister Tudorel Toader said on Tuesday that the special Section for the Magistrates' Investigation was set up by amending the laws of justice in Parliament, and the emergency ordinance on this unit was adopted in order to render it operational.
"The Magistrates' Investigation Section - you have very much insisted on the subject and, if you wish, I can understand it, given that you are in the opposition. The section was set up under the laws amending the justice package. The establishment of the section was challenged in the Constitutional Court, but the Court said - I am convinced that you know it - that not only does the establishment of the section not affect the independence of the magistrates, but on the contrary, it is a guarantee that the judges do not come under various forms of pressure that would violate their independence. Therefore, with this being the work of the lawmaker, and with the section's constitutionality confirmed by CCR, you are asking me to move to dismantle it. (...) Do not ask me to take responsibility for others' acts!" Toader said at the debates in the Chamber of Deputies on the motion tabled against him by the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union. The JusMin urged the opposition lawmakers to not shirk responsibility and carry through themselves the initiative to scrap the special unit tasked with investigating judges and prosecutors, if this is what they are after.
The Justice Minister said that the emergency ordinance adopted to render the special unit operational is currently under constitutional check and that he will follow whatever legislative solution the constitutional judges will hand down.