JusMin Predoiu: How logical is it to reproach Justice Ministry for not turning bills into laws?

The Ministry of Justice did its duty and drafted bills to amend justice laws, but did not have the opportunity to pass them through Parliament in the absence of a majority, Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu said on Thursday evening.

"How fair and logical is it in the end to reproach the Ministry of Justice for not snapping the fingers and not turning bills into laws? The Ministry of Justice has an obligation to draft bills. It has done so, it has fulfilled this obligation," said the justice minister in an interview with Realitatea Plus about the results of his mandate at the ministry.

Asked what would be his biggest failure as a minister in this year of office, Predoiu replied that he reproaches himself for not being able to explain well enough the process of drafting and adopting such normative acts.

"I think I have not been able to communicate very well this staging of this plan, the fact that not everything can be achieved at once. I have not been able to communicate very well the fact that we have a PSD [Social Democratic Party] majority in Parliament, which is the same that blocked the laws of justice and that we cannot go beyond it. We have not been able to communicate well that we cannot go with the laws of justice as soon as we have drafted them, because (...) a wider debate is needed. The Country Report also demands from us to have a solid, robust debate, in order to send a bill with as few mistakes as possible. (...) The second reason why we cannot turn a bill into a law overnight it is because we do not have this majority. There are still people who destructured the laws of justice in 2017-2018," said Catalin Predoiu.

The justice minister announces, on September 30, the public debate, until March 31, 2021, of the proposals to amend the laws of justice - Law 303/2004 on the status of judges and prosecutors, Law 304/2004 on judicial organization and Law 317 / 2004 regarding the Superior Council of Magistracy.