Justice is the chance of Romanias future in Europe

Romanian has taken a strong commitment for maintaining the rule of law,
strengthening the democratic institutions, good governance practices
implementation,

transparency

and

consolidating

democracy

itself

by

becoming a member of different international organisations such as NATO

and EU. The most important fight in the judicial system is the fight against
corruption at all possible levels. Implemented instruments such as the
Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (better known by the citizens as
the MCV) monitored the evolution of Romanian legislation and legal
practices concerning the corruption

level and the conformity of such

legislation and practice with the imposed and desirable European standards.
The indicators have shown that Romania is on the right track, with
exceptions that depend on the political ideas proposed and promoted by the
governmental party.
I can affirm that Romania is aware that the fight against corruption will
succeed only by putting a great deal of effort in this goal. The fight against
corruption

can be considered

nearly

completed

when Romania

has

consolidated its democratic institutions. I used the term nearly because in

my opinion, this is and will remain a continuous struggle for all countries.
As I pointed out before, Romania has achieved substantial progress in the
area of judicial reform and fight against corruption, steps which prove to be
steadily appreciated by the European Commission, by other European
institutions and mostly by our European partners.
In my opinion, respecting the Statute of Judges and the adoption of a Statute
of Prosecutors are necessary actions for the rule of law in Romania. Also,
exploiting the human factor must be carried out to the highest standards in
order that justice is done by people, through people and for the people's
support. The quality of the act of justice is directly proportional to the quality
of training received by all those legal practitioners involved in the process of

justice making, as well as their moral integrity. There is an obvious need

for personnel in our judicial system, fact that involves increasing the number
of judges and prosecutors, supplemented inextricably by an increase in the
number of support staff which at the moment is incredibly low compared to
the real needs of the system.
For an efficient management of the courts budgets, the establishment of a
court manager could be a solution, but I hope that concrete proposals shall
come soon from professional bodies and from the civil society because these
two categories are those which are entitled to bring to our attention that we
need a massive strengthening either of the specialized courts, either of the
system built for social reintegration and protection of victims, due to the fact
that the above mentioned categories know better the problems faced, and
can provide us with the best solutions.
However, any discussion in the public space about the need of increasing
responsibility and accountability of the magistrates to the act of justice
should also be encouraged because the judge is the person who reads the
law, not the one who makes the law, although from a point of view it can
be argued that sometimes he is asked to solve problems that are not
expressly stipulated in laws. Nonetheless, this doesnt turn change the
judges role, this process remaining focused on interpreting the law and not
writing it.
I would like to also address a topic considered highly sensitive nowadays: the
alternative means of dispute resolution. Their share should grow in the
judicial system, representing perhaps the only way of helping it on the short
term, but having the potential to show important medium and long term
effects for the litigants. Romania must show more interest in promoting and
explaining ADR methods such as arbitration and mediation in order to restore
the citizens faith in them, endeavor which should be part of a larger action
focusing on making the judicial system more reliable in the citizens eyes.

Moreover, the consolidation of justice must start to be perceived as normality

and strong efforts must be put into removing the above mentioned MCV
developed together with the European Commission. This must become a
target for justice, representing the next step towards the goals undertaken
by Romania for its future in the European Union.
Here, I think it is very important for any democratic country which seeks a
clean and stable future to show a solid contribution to the fight against
corruption from all levels, firstly by bringing more transparency in all
procedures of the judicial system and in every decision-making process.
Secondly, we must turn our attention to establishing common rules for the
appointment of judges and prosecutors, fact that must lead to the exclusion
of any kind of political factor in this procedure. Also, the rules established for
obtaining management positions and promoting to executive positions in the
courts and prosecutors offices should be reviewed, providing us with a real
competition and resulting in resulting in the appointment of the most
competent and suitable persons.
Knowing all the problems and challenges that we face in order to have a
bright future as a country, we cannot patch. By analyzing our laws, we can
name ourselves Europeans and state that most of our legislation is in
accordance with the European standards. However, we are still facing two
large gaps that need to be filled: compliance with the laws and supporting
the constitutional reform which clarifies the relationship between state
powers and can establish once and for all that Romania is a state of law!
Excessive regulation must be stopped and justice should be strengthened
having in mind the real needs of the citizens. In order to have a bright future
in Europe, our higher objective must be to consolidate the judicial system
and to put all our efforts into sustaining it through reforms.