Institute for the Study of Humanities Center on Democracy, And Social Sciences and Development and the Rule of Law, University of Florence (Italy) University of Stanford (USA) EVALUATING EU DEMOCRATIC RULE OF LAW PROMOTION COUNTRY REPORT ROMANIA SORANA PÂRVULESCU ANA DEMSOREAN BOGDAN VETRICI-ŞOIMU BUCHAREST OCTOBER, 2005 Country Report Romania Sorana Pârvulescu Bogdan Vetrici-Şoimu TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION A ...................................................................................................................3 A1. JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE.............................................................................................................3 A2. REFORMS MEANT TO STRANGHTEN LEGISLATIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY.16 A3. EFFORTS TO COMBAT CORRUPTION AND INCREASE STATE ACCOUNTABILITY ..........21 A4. POLICE REFORM AND CIVILIAN CONTROL OF SECURITY FORCES ..................................27 A5. STRENGHTENING PROTECTION OF BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS...............................................32 SECTION B .................................................................................................................36 DESCRIPTIVE INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................36 ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS IN SECTION B: ............................................................................45 SECTION C .................................................................................................................56 International Conventions on Human Rights and Protection of Minorities .........................................56 International and Regional Conventions/Agreements .........................................................................60 Membership in Political and Economic International Organizations ...................................................61 Supranational Courts..............................................................................................................................62 International Obligations ........................................................................................................................63 Regional Cooperation (RC)....................................................................................................................63 Presence of Contractual Links with the EU ..........................................................................................64 EU Economic Assistance .......................................................................................................................64 Cooperation Against Common Security Threats ..................................................................................66 Involvement in Regional Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management ...............................................67 Community programmes........................................................................................................................67 EU Technical Assistance .......................................................................................................................67 APPENDIX: Appendix no. 1: Case Workload for Judges, 1990-2002.................................................................69 Appendix no. 2: Payment of Magistrates..........................................................................................70 Appendix no. 3: Trust in Public Institutions ......................................................................................72 Appendix no. 4: Trust in the Judiciary ..............................................................................................72 Appendix no. 5: Appreciating Performance of Public Institutions...................................................73 Appendix no. 6: Political Migration....................................................................................................74 Appendix no. 7: Excerpts from SDP Transcripts .............................................................................75 Appendix No. 8: The Safeguard Clause...........................................................................................79 Appendix No. 9: Main Public Concerns and Expectations Regarding EU accession ...................81 Appendix No. 11: Short history regarding the EU–Romania relations ..........................................83 Appendix No. 12: Slow Romanian progress in closing negotiation chapters ................................86 Appendix No. 13: Perceptions of fairness and the law....................................................................87 Appendix No. 14: Designating the Privileged...................................................................................87 Appendix No. 15: Social Capital and Informal Behavior .................................................................87 Appendix no. 16: Excerpts from the lists of the Coalition for a Clean Parliament .........................88 Appendix no. 17: Pace of Reforms in Romania. NIT Ratings 1997-2004......................................90 Appendix no. 18: Public Confidence and Support for EU ...............................................................91 Appendix no. 18: Anticorruption Institutions.....................................................................................92 Appendix no. 19: Institutions responsible for Public Administration Reform between 1998 and 2004 ....................................................................................................................................................97 Appendix no. 19: Budget Formulation ..............................................................................................98 Bibliography:.......................................................................................................99 ABBREVIATIONS: .............................................................................................100 2 Country Report Romania Sorana Pârvulescu Bogdan Vetrici-Şoimu SECTION A A1. JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE (a) Please provide a succinct, contextual description of the judicial system in the country, pointing out distinct problems or issues with the judicial system and a short explanation for these (historical legacy, ethnic or ideological legacy, politicization and so forth) The modern Romanian judiciary originates in the middle of the nineteenth century. The structure of the judiciary follows both the French model (the civil matters), and the Italian one (the commercial regulations). The Ministry of Justice plays a significant role in the administration of the judiciary. Romanian is a Roman language, and Romania has had long- standing cultural ties to France that were carried over to the legal sphere. Justice is carried out through the following courts: (a) The High Court of Cassation and Justice; (b) The courts of appeal (each heaving a few counties under its jurisdiction, that means between 2 to 5 tribunals); (c) The tribunals (County courts); (d) The specialized tribunals; (e) The first instance courts (Regional courts). In addition to these primary courts, there are also three types of specialized courts: the Constitutional Court, the Court of Accounts, and military courts. At present, there are 178 first instance courts, 41 tribunals and 15 courts of appeal functioning.1 The military courts are divided into military tribunals, Military Territorial Tribunal and Military Court of Appeal.2 Courts at each of these levels have prosecutors’ offices attached to them. In general, cases enjoy a judgment in substance in the court of first instance and two degrees of judiciary appeal: appeal on facts and appeal on law. There is also a Constitutional Court, which has a two-fold jurisdiction: the examination of laws before their promulgation by the President of Romania, and the examination of laws already in force when their constitutionality is challenged before ordinary courts. The district courts, sitting in panels of one, hear low-level criminal and civil cases. Most cases that originate at this level can be appealed on the facts, and are entitled to one appeal on the law (the final appeal). These cases typically involve divorce, separation of goods, property claims, and relatively minor crimes. The tribunals hear mostly administrative cases, including bankruptcies, and the more important civil and criminal cases. Bankruptcy cases are heard by a subset of specialized judges, who are called “Sindic Judges”. Through the newly adopted legislation (Law no. 304/2004, specialized tribunals are to be organized for commercial, administrative & fiscal, family & minors and labor cases). Unlike the other lower courts, the courts of appeal did not exist until the Law on Judicial Organization went 1 Law 92/1992 as amended, Appendixes 1 and 2 to the Law. 2 Law 54/1993, Article 2. The Law was modified through Law 43/1999 and Law 281/2003. It is important to note that military courts are subordinated to the Ministry of Defence and are in the process of reform in view of implementation of NATO acquis. 3 Country Report Romania Sorana Pârvulescu Bogdan Vetrici-Şoimu into effect in 1993. They act as courts of first instance for serious criminal and administrative matters, and hear appeals from both tribunals and first instance courts. (b) How are judges appointed? The appointment of judges as a result of the graduation of the National Institute of Magistracy The recruitment and the initial professional training with a view of taking a magistrate office are conducted mainly by the National Institute of Magistracy. The