JusMin Toader: CVM Report uses double standard and has political undertone

The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) Report released by the European Commission has a political undertone and uses double standards, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader stated on Wednesday.

He reaffirmed that Romania is and remains attached to the European values, that Romania respects the European standards but at the same time must have the dignity to legislate in agreement with the fundamental Law in agreement with the national specificities and with the Romanians' interest.

"This time, I tend to believe the report has a political undertone, it has many interests, the report uses double standards and relates to movable, moving targets. I bring to mind one thing: there were four recommendations, subsequently four turned into 12 recommendations, now eight have been added. We will now have 20 recommendations. Why are they mobile, why the double standard? Because, for example, in 2012 there was a legislative measure to amend the laws of Justice regarding the competencies related to the disciplinary action. It was good, the measure was appreciated, it related to judges, to prosecutors, the Minister of Justice had a broader competence than to notify and it was good. Today, after six years, the Minister has only the competence to initiate the action of notifying the Judicial Inspection, he/she does not take measures, he/she only relates to prosecutors and that's not good anymore. The same cannot be good in 2012 and not good in 2018. I'll give you another example: not long ago a high-level prosecutor was appointed with a negative opinion from the Prosecutors' Section. And it was good. No one rebelled, no one worried, Justice was not broken, the prosecutors' independence was respected. Today, we are asked no more no less than the opinion of the Prosecutors' Section with the CSM [Superior Council of Magistrates, ed.n.] become a mandatory one, that is to say, not to get past a negative opinion, which again, in a short space of time, we can see different approaches," Tudorel Toader detailed.

"Let no one say that a recommendation, no matter whose it is, goes over a decision of the Constitutional Court. (...) What is mandatory is the fact that the European standards are binding. The irreversible lawmaking process is mandatory. (...) You do not have to be a big lawyer, nor do you have to be a legal expert to understand that a commission of three or five experts is coming from Brussels to evaluate and make that report and make some recommendations. Do not imagine that three or five specialists come to Romania, make some recommendations and their recommendation becomes stronger than the national law, their recommendation becomes like a norm in an international treaty / convention. You do not have to be a jurist to know that those experts, as experts as they are, do not become legislators when they come to Romania to evaluate us, to make recommendations. Their recommendations are the basis of the final report," Toader explained.AGERPRES(RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)