On Tuesday, the Superior Council of the Magistracy’s Section for Judges took note of Dana Girbovan’s request to withdraw her resignation from the magistracy, Agerpres informs, citing CSM officials.
On August 26, the Superior Council of the Magistracy’s Section for Judges took note of judge Dana Girbovan’s resignation from the magistracy, but her resignation did not reach Cotroceni Palace for the President to issue the decree in this regard.
Prior to that, Premier Viorica Dancila announced that she would nominate Dana Girbovan as Justice Minister again, stating that she wanted the office to be held by “a magistrate who knows very well the working method,” “who enjoys respect from the others,” an independent person “because we mustn’t solely declare that we want the independence of the judiciary, this must truly be accomplished.” “If it were up to me, I would nominate Mrs Dana Girbovan with all openness and all confidence. I don’t know whether she still wants to,” Dancila said.
“I reject the nominated Justice Minister. I will not tolerate the ignoring of the vote cast on May 26, when the PSD and ALDE’s programme to dismantle the judiciary, to stop the fight against corruption and to completely turn Romania into fiefdoms was stopped through the Romanians’ vote. PSD and ALDE are to blame for the current disaster, for the politicisation of the institutions, and I will not tolerate proposals that run completely against the democratic values in which most Romanians believe, and in which I also believe,” Klaus Iohannis said, referring to the nomination of Dana Girbovan.
Dana Girbovan wrote on her Facebook page that she took note of President Klaus Iohannis’s decision to reject her nomination as Justice Minister and announced that she withdraws her resignation from the magistracy.
“I will respond publicly, point-by-point, to the President’s reasons, including to the one according to which my nomination runs ‘completely against democratic values,’ after he substantiates his decision in writing and publishes it,” she pointed out.
Subsequently, the Section for Judges of the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) claimed that President Klaus Iohannis’s public substantiation of his decision to reject Dana Garbovan as Justice Minister represents “an obvious attack on the independence and prestige of the judiciary.”
“In relation to the statements made by the Romanian President on 28 August 2019, when rejecting the proposal to appoint a judge as Justice Minister, the Section for Judges of the Superior Council of the Magistracy publicly condemns such acts as particularly grave encroachments upon the independence of the judiciary,” reads a communique published by the CSM’s Section for Judges.
“The Romanian President’s statements about the person nominated as Justice Minister, person who has been a judge for more than 19 years, represent, in the absence of any ascertainment of their veracity within the aforementioned legal and constitutional mechanisms, an obvious attack on the independence and prestige of the judiciary,” reads the communique.
The Presidential Administration pointed out that President Klaus Iohannis did not justify the rejection of the nomination of judge Dana-Cristina Girbovan as Justice Minister but of the nomination of Romanian citizen Dana-Cristina Girbovan, who accepted the Premier’s proposal to hold a ministerial office in a political Government and who also tendered her resignation from the magistracy. “Since it induces the idea that a judge can hold the office of minister, the opinion expressed by the CSM’s Section for Judges is worrisome and liable, by itself, to render vulnerable the independence and prestige of the judiciary and of the statute of the judge,” the document adds.
According to the mentioned source, because it induces the idea that a judge can hold the office of minister, the opinion of the CSM’s Section for Judges is “worrisome” and “liable, by itself, to render vulnerable the independence and prestige of the judiciary and of the statute of the judge.”
“The CSM’s Section for Judges must explain how the Romanian President could have appointed a judge as minister, as it is explicitly stated in the communique made public. It is precisely these opinions, inexplicable on the part of judicial professionals who seem to condemn precisely the fact that the Romanian President observed the country’s laws and Constitution, that are truly grave encroachments upon the independence of the judiciary,” reads the Presidential Administration’s communique.
The Section for Judges of the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) subsequently pointed out that all matters that concern the statute of judges, including the regime of incompatibilities, are the exclusive prerogative of this Section, and not of the Romanian President. “The Section for Judges does not take orders from any branch of government, least of all from an electioneering President who wants to draw the judiciary into the political battle.”
