Romanian magistrates vote against justice bills

Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) issued yesterday a negative opinion on the draft emergency ordinances granting pardon to several categories of convicts and amending the criminal laws. The Council reunited in the absence of justice minister Florin Iordache, who initiated these proposals. The justice minister is a member of the Superior Council of Magistracy, but he’s not obliged to take part in its meetings. The CSM meeting lasted about half an hour. Afterwards, the General Prosecutor Augustin Lazar said that the negative opinion on the draft proposals was voted by the majority of the CSM members. Before the meeting, the General Prosecutor said that adopting the two bills would lead to the reconsideration of the positive aspects from the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism report. The European Commission discussed yesterday the latest CVM reports on Bulgaria and Romania. editor@romania-insider.com