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JusMin Predoiu about possibility of a government order for SIIJ removal: We will intervene in Parliament
Catalin Predoiu, the justice minister, said on Tuesday that there are magistrates who want the removal of the Section Investigating Crimes in Justice “overnight”, but the situation will be discussed in Parliament.
Asked by journalists whether there will be an emergency order on the removal of SIIJ, Predoiu said: “The premier pointed out in Parliament yesterday that we will have an intervention in Parliament, we will have a bill, we will discuss the laws of justice, but I hope we will have a reasonable reaction in Parliament. There is a huge tension about this special section in the judicial system. There are magistrates who ask its removal overnight and there are fewer magistrates who say it is a reparation. I am ready to understand the reason why they thought about reparation based on a study. Anyway, things cannot remain this way. We will work in Parliament and expect a responsible reaction from its members.”
Catalin Predoiu took over from Ana Birchall on Tuesday, the mandate of justice minister, during a ceremony attended by president Iohannis and premier Orban.
Former Justice minister Ana Birchall has stated on Tuesday during the handover ceremony that the Justice Ministry had been under siege many times, as there were many pressures and “various interests” at stake.
“Despite those many pressures and various interests, I believe I have provided the rule of law,” Birchall said, adding she is content about the way she is leaving the ministry and voicing hope the new minister will continue the good things.
Ana Birchall, named to run the ministry of Justice this spring following Tudorel Toader’s resignation, has been on constant conflict with the PSD leadership, which eventually prompted her dismissal in August. However she remained in office as interim, as President Iohannis had repeatedly rejected any proposal for this portfolio submitted by Dancila Government.
In a surprising move, President Klaus Iohannis, who attended the handover ceremony at the Ministry of Justice, has thanked Ana Birchall for her activity as minister, underlining he appreciated the critical solutions when she had opposite stances from PSD.
“I noticed you have totally involved in solving the problems, that there have been critical solutions when you took an opposite stance from the party that gave this failed government. I appreciated your position in favour of the independence of justice and not for the political commissioners who tried to subdue the judiciary system”, president Klaus Iohannis stated.
President Klaus Iohannis told new Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu that he has a difficult task as Minister of Justice, for the justice laws "have been massacred by the former toxic majority of the PSD [Social Democratic Party] in Parliament" and the discussions on these laws should be resumed with the experts in the system, the European bodies and "good faith politicians."
"I wish very much that Romania and the Romanians have a fair justice system, an efficient anti-corruption fight, and that you, Mr. Minister, and I also want to ask the Prime Minister to support you in this demarches, you have a difficult task ahead of you. We have the justice laws that have been massacred by the former toxic majority of PSD in Parliament and it's good that this majority changed. These laws are active, but this doesn't mean that they are perfect. We should resume the discussion, it should be resumed together with the experts in the system, with the bodies that are our partners - GRECO, the European Commission, together with the good faith politicians, and where we find that the modifications were correct, we should leave them like that, but we must correct the wrong ones," said Iohannis, at the ceremony where new Minister of Justice Catalin Predoiu took over the office.
The President also said that Predoiu must come with "a vision" in what concerns the Criminal Codes, to be harmonized with the decisions of the Constitutional Court.
"Also, Mr. Minister, you must come with a vision in what concerns the Criminal Codes, because it's clear that we need the Codes to be harmonized with certain decisions of the Constitutional Court. It's good that the assault of PSD on the Codes is over, for it would have been a national disaster if this assault continued. It's a tough job, but I am certain that with your expertise, with your very clear and diplomatic approach, you can come up with an approach that we'll make all of us say: Ok, now the laws are right, the Codes are right and the judges and prosecutors will only have to apply them in good faith. Mr. Minister, a special and complicated part is the management of the Public Ministry, because most people at the Public Ministry or most positions are extremely important, very visible, and the prosecutors who hold this offices now are only interims. So, again, very calmly, very diplomatically, you need to look into all these matters and I am certain that you will find the best solutions," said the head of the state.