Former Constitutional Court President's opinion on justice reform in Moldova

Chisinau, July 2 /MOLDPRES/- Justice reform is one of the key and most difficult elements in Moldova's European integration process, former Constitutional Court President Alexandru Tanase said. The former magistrate believes that the finalization of the integrity evaluation process of judges, prosecutors and members of the CSM will bring tangible results, but they will be felt years later.

At the same time, the expert says that Moldova's legislation in the field of justice has been largely adjusted to European standards: "The Republic of Moldova is far from being at the lowest point in the area of justice reform. We have a regulatory framework that is mostly compatible with EU standards. I would not be exaggerating to say that we have legislation in the civil, criminal, procedural, administrative, criminal and civil procedure fields, which in many cases is more advanced than in other European countries. I wouldn't see any problems here that are difficult to solve", Tanase said.

According to Alexandru Tanase, the most important and most complicated aspect of the justice reform is the process of assessing the integrity of judges and prosecutors - persons involved in the administration of justice. "An extraordinary procedure of integrity evaluation of magistrates, prosecutors and members of the CSM is now taking place in our system, and these elements, if finalized and carried out in good faith, will clearly produce a tangible result on the entire justice system. This is where I see the most complicated part of justice, which is the finalization of the integrity evaluation process, the re-launching of the engines that are inside the two councils, judges and prosecutors, to start the process of appointments, promotions, dismissals, when necessary, of judges and prosecutors."

He considers that the vetting process should be speeded up in order to bring the process to a successful conclusion. At the same time, Tănase reveals that from the structural point of view, in terms of the institutions operating within the justice system, the Republic of Moldova is sufficiently advanced. "In terms of legislation, we would not have much to do. Everything that needed to be adjusted to European standards was adjusted many years ago, thanks to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights," said Tanase.

Justice reform is a key element and the most difficult to achieve, because reforms in the area of justice cannot be carried out administratively or cannot be imposed.

Citizens can expect tangible results in justice in the next 5-10 years, the expert said. "Exactly like a child that cannot be forced to grow up, this is exactly with justice reform, it will yield results, but it will have to go through several stages," he explained.

Alexandru Tănase was President of the Constitutional Court from 2011-2017, and before that he held the portfolio of Minister of Justice 2009-2011, returning to the position in 2018.