The National Union of Romanian Judges (UNJR) accuses the Superior Magistracy Council (CSM) of seriously breaching the law by postponing a decision on recalling judge Alina Ghica and judge Cristi Danilet from CSM, pointing out that the 15-day period stipulated by law is “imperative.”
“The CSM plenum has seriously breached the law by postponing a decision on recalling two of the Council’s members. (…) We remind that it is the Council plenum’s exclusive prerogative to order, at the request of the courts’ general assemblies, within the 15-day period stipulated by law, the recall of the two elected members, the recall having been decided by magistrates with an overwhelming quorum that went above the minimum threshold stipulated by law,” a UNJR communiqué quoted by Mediafax shows.
In the opinion of UNJR representatives, the Council plenum’s decision on Wednesday to send to the second commission (led by judge Marius Tudose – editor’s note) the materials concerning the recall of Ghica and Danilet has no legal basis, representing in fact a refusal to implement the imperative legal dispositions and to take act of the recall of the two elected Council members. “In this way the plenum is abusively delaying the fulfillment of a legal obligation, maintaining within the Council two members that thus continue to benefit from the statute of officials, including from a pecuniary point of view, and to take part in adopting decisions within the Council,” UNJR emphasizes.
On the basis of the institutional transparency obligation UNJR is asking CSM to reveal the votes cast during the plenum meeting on February 13, a meeting on the recall of elected members, in order to dispel any suspicion that the two members targeted by the recall procedures voted on the issue and thus broke the legal stipulations on conflict of interests.
