http://www.forumuljudecatorilor.ro/wp-content/uploads/20231122090046630_EN.pdf
ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
No. 73123/2023/21.11.2023
To Mr. Dragos Calin
Judge, Copresident
The Romanian Judges Forum
Following your request, submitted under Law no. 544/2001 regarding free access to public interest information, as subsequently amended and supplemented, registered with the Ministry of Justice (MJ) under no. 73123/2023, for sending the report prepared by the Panel for Justice, after consulting the specialized department, we hereby inform you as follows:
As the public opinion was informed by the press release published on the official page of MJ on 24 May 2023[1], in the spring of 2023, a politically independent work group/panel was created to analyse and assess the Venice Opinion no. 1105/2022.
The initiative of creating the “Panel for Justice” belonged to the Minister of Justice and was communicated in advance to both the European Commission, and the President of the Venice Commission, being received with great openness.
This initiative is intended to support the independence of the judiciary, the dialogue and cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the Venice Commission.
The Panel for Justice comprised three independent experts, with an established professional reputation: Prof. Dr. Valeriu Stoica, lawyer and former Minister of Justice during 1996-2000, Prof. Dr. Raluca Bercea and Prof. Dr. Camelia Toader, former Romanian judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The main objective of the Panel was to make an in-depth analysis and evaluation of the recommendations formulated by the Venice Commission regarding the three laws of justice: Law no. 303/2022 regarding the status of judges and prosecutors, Law no. 304/2022 on judicial organization and Law no. 305/2022 on the Superior Council of Magistracy.
The independent report resulting from the analysis was presented to the Ministry of Justice with as a working document, in view of starting a comprehensive internal evaluation regarding the manner of implementation of the recommendations formulated by the Venice Commission by Opinion no. 1105/2022 in relation to the three laws of justice that entered into force at the end of 2022.
This internal evaluation process is in progress, and the received report is under analysis by the specialized departments within the Ministry of Justice. Up to the moment of drawing up this document, the analysis has a predominantly internal and technical nature. Also, no final decisions have been adopted regarding a potential incorporation in the national legal system, at legislative and/or administrative level, of the proposals/conclusions of the report from the perspective of the implementation of the recommendations formulated by the Venice Commission.
Given the arguments above, we consider that, at this stage, the situation of the report drawn up by the “Panel for Justice” is likely to be included in the exception provided for by Art. 12 par. (1) letter b, first sentence of Law no. 544/2001, namely information regarding the deliberations of authorities.
Yours respectfully,
Lucian GROSU
Public Information Structure
[Illegible signature]
[Stamp of the Ministry of Justice, Public Information Structure]
[1] https://www.just.ro/ministerul-justitiei-anunta-crearea-unui-panel-pentru-justitie-in-vederea-evaluarii-recomandarilor-comisiei-de-la-venetia-privind-sistemul-judiciar/
No related posts.