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Judge Mircea Aron, elected chairman of the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM)
Mircea Aron, 63, was elected head of the Superior Council of Magistrates, CSM, with 15 votes for and one against on Wednesday. At the same session, prosecutor Luminita Palade was elected vice-president. The election of a new chief is seen as important because the CSM is the guarantor of the independence of the judiciary in Romania.
Judge Mircea Aron is the elected representative of the High Court of Cassation and Justice in the CSM.
He unveiled in the CSM plenum his managerial project with the objectives and priorities of his mandate, and also his view for resolving the vulnerabilities of the judiciary system. He also answered questions raised by CSM members related to addressing some solutions to streamline activity.
Judge Aron said, in his candidacy project, that the CSM must manage under the best conditions of transparency and fairness the procedures for appointing leadership positions in the judiciary system.
In his opinion, a priority of CSM in 2016 should be notifying Parliament regarding proposals to amend judiciary laws drawn up by the Council, based on a serious analysis of the needs of the system and which have been subject to consultations with the courts, the High Court of Cassation and Justice (Supreme Court), the Public Prosecution and the National Institute of Magistracy.
According to him, an important component of the CSM activity will be the cooperation with the European Commission under the MCV, pointing out that closer coordination and a single message with the Ministry of Justice, the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Prosecutor General's Office are needed in the communication with European officials, so that the information is not distorted.
The EU, which Romania joined in January 2007, has long urged Bucharest to continue reforming the justice system – plagued by long delays in proceedings and alleged miscarriages of justice - and carry on the fight against corruption, particularly at the higher levels of the administration.
In recent years, the number of high-ranking officials investigated or sentenced for graft has increased significantly.
In 2014, the DNA secured the convictions of 24 mayors, five MPs, two ex-ministers and a former prime minister, Adrian Nastase, not to mention more than 1,000 other individuals, including judges and prosecutors.
Last year, another 15 MPs were investigated, four of them former ministers, including ex-Prime Minister Victor Ponta - plus the mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, and many other low-ranking officials.
The CSM is composed of 19 members: nine judges and five prosecutors elected by magistrates in general assemblies of courts and prosecutors' offices and validated by the Senate, two civil society representatives, chosen by the Senate, and three lawful members - minister of justice, the High Court of Cassation and Justice's Chairman and Romania's Prosecutor General. The mandate of the elected members is six years, without the possibility of being reinvested.
The Council is led by a chairperson, assisted by a vice chairperson, for a term of one year, which may not be renewed.
The CSM chair and vice chair are designated from the 14 members elected in the general assemblies of courts and prosecutors' offices.