AMR, AJADO ask gov't to abrogate ordinance on modification of judicial organization

The Association of Romanian Magistrates and the Association of Judges for the Defence of Human Rights draw attention, on Thursday, that by adopting, on December 30, the emergency ordinance modifying a provision of Law No. 304/2004 on the organization of the judiciary, the Government violated the sovereign will of the people, expressed by referendum, the constitutional principle of balance between powers and the principle of loyal cooperation between them.

"The adoption of an emergency ordinance on issues related to judicial organization, in this case the extension of the entry into force of legal provisions on the composition of the panels of appeals, disregards the vote of over 6.4 million citizens and the Romanian Constitution. We remind that, in 2019, on the occasion of the European Parliament elections, a "referendum on justice" took place, and one of the questions was: "Do you agree with the ban on the adoption by the Government of emergency ordinances in the field of crimes, punishments and judicial organization and with the extension of the right to challenge the ordinances directly with the Constitutional Court?" The referendum was adopted, with more than 6.4 million citizens saying "YES," reads a press release of the two associations, sent to AGERPRES.

In the opinion of the signatories of the press release, the adoption of an emergency ordinance on judicial organization, such as that of December 30, "blatantly violates the will of the sovereign people, ignores the decisions of the Constitutional Court and, if the ordinance adopted will be declared unconstitutional, which is very likely, it will seriously damage the legal certainty by annulling some final court decisions because they were pronounced by illegally constituted court panels."

"Beyond violating the will of millions of citizens, the precedent set by the Government, as well as the effects that the unconstitutionality of this ordinance can produce, denotes disregard for the vote and the rights of citizens, an attitude that must be publicly denounced. That's why we ask the Government to urgently abrogate the ordinance adopted as a result of the proposal of the Minister of Justice, Stelian Ion, on the modification of the judicial organization, and leave the Parliament to decide on this matter," says the same press release.