PM Citu attends inauguration of Justice Palace in Ploiesti: 22 years, 28 ministers were needed to finish this project

Prime Minister Florin Citu stated on Wednesday, at the inauguration of the Palace of Justice in Ploiesti, that it took over 20 years and 28 ministers to complete the construction, and a situation like this can no longer be tolerated in Romania. "Finally this Palace of Justice is inaugurated. I also received the history of this building. We have been talking for 22 years to erect a single building, 22 years it took for this construction to be completed, and 28 ministers. I think, and I will be very firm here, that we can no longer tolerate something like this to ever happen in Romania again (...) During all this time, the courts in Prahova functioned in inappropriate, undersized, even unclean spaces, in rented buildings. Also, lacking a proper space, the Prahova Court even worked in the building of a mall downtown Ploiesti, while the archive was somewhere else, on the outskirts of the City. It's good, however, that we can make up for these things in the next interval. We also have the resources and the political will," the Prime Minister said in his speech. He pointed out that the judicial reforms do not only aim at the legislative framework, but also at ensuring suitable spaces for carrying out the activity. "I am a man who has asked and I continue to ask for reforms in the essential areas, and justice is an essential field, and by reforms I mean not only the modification of the legislation, the adaptation of the legislation to the European framework, the speedy judgment of cases, but also the provision of suitable spaces for carrying out the activity," the head of the Executive also said. In this context, the interim Minister of Justice, Lucian Bode, underlined the "imminent" need for investments in the offices of courts and prosecutor's offices. "The inauguration of the Palace of Justice in Ploiesti has been awaited for many years, being the most important investment objective pursued by the Ministry of Justice after the Palace of Justice in Bucharest. (...) It is hard to believe that it took 27 years from the initial project on paper, in 1994, to complete an important objective for justice in Romania, with the Palace gates having been opened on September 2 this year (...) Without permanent and consistent investments in the judiciary, it is not possible to obtain results, so that litigants benefit from a quality and timely justice," Bode said. He reiterated that the Government has allocated funds in the budget revision for the continuation of the works at the courts countrywide. "Yesterday, on the occasion of the first budget revision, the Florin Citu Government allocated the necessary funds for the continuation of the construction works on 20 headquarters of Romanian courts. The process of reforming the Romanian judiciary must continue with full engines, and besides the rebuilding of the normative framework that was seriously damaged between 2017 and 2019, investments in people and in improving the logistical conditions appropriate to a quality justice must be done in parallel. The rule of law can only be strengthened with reformed justice in the shortest possible time," said the interim Minister of Justice. Construction works on the building of the Palace of Justice in Ploiesti began in December 1996, and the deadline was postponed several times. The building covers a total of about 20,000 square metres, with a built area of 3,750 square metres. AGERPRES (RO - author: Anamaria Constantin, editor: Irina Poenaru, EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)