Prime Minister Iurie Leanca and President Nicolae Timofti, in the March 14 General Assembly of Judges, spoke about the difficulties encountered in promoting the bill on the rise in judges’ salaries and asked the judges to make effort to eradicate corruption from the system. The judges were to elect two members of the Supreme Council of Magistrates, IPN reports.

Iurie Leanca said that Moldova is placed last in the international rankings by the state of justice and this affects the country’s image. When discussions are held with the foreign partners, they all enquire about the developments in the justice sector. The authorities aim to attract investments, while the reformation of justice and eradication of corruption from the system would support these efforts. Justice is the only sector where no evident progress was made during four years. Steps are taken to make Moldova a stable and predictable state.

Nicolae Timofti said that most of the judges are honest and only a part of them are corrupt. These corrupt judges damage the image of the whole system and should thus not receive allowances of hundreds of thousands of lei and pensions significantly higher than the average per country.

The head of state added that Moldova must this year sign the Association Agreement with the EU, which lays great emphasis on the quality of justice. Legislative changes are needed to eliminate the abuses on the part of judges.

Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim said that a lot was done in 2013 to obtain a rise in the salaries of justice as society accepted such a not at all popular measure with difficulty. Now they are waiting for the effects of this measure, which are needed by the whole society.