Next two years will be difficult for a part of judges

The judicial body over the next two years will have to go through the performance assessment procedure. This is stipulated by the Law on the Selection, Career and Performance of Judges. In an interview for Info-Prim Neo of the series “Year 2012 in Moldova’s and Moldovans’ life”,{which was published on December 17, 2012}, Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim said that this is a key law in the future process of accepting judges into the system, of promoting them and assessing their performance. According to the minister, the adoption of laws does not ensure results. They must be implemented appropriately. It would be ideal if the Supreme Council of Magistrates and the judges wanted to fight and to contribute to the reformation of the legal system. “When the people are asked what they believe about corruption in justice, they usually say that the whole judicial system is corrupt. But we have honest judges who, unfortunately, are associated with the corrupt ones. I would like the honest judges to support us in our initiatives. They should start the fight and clean the system from inside because this will lead to the combating of corruption and the increase in confidence in justice,” said Oleg Efrim. The minister also said that the burden for the transformations in the legal system is now borne by such authorities as the Supreme Council of Magistrates, the National Anticorruption Center, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the National Integrity Commission. Asked if the period of five years stipulated in the strategy that was adopted a year ago is sufficient for reforming the legal system, Oleg Efrim said it would be ideal for this to happen overnight, as our people want. “But we must be realistic. We must understand that we do not speak only about the adoption of laws, though the adoption of laws is an important process and rather difficult in certain areas. The approval of the regulations is only the beginning,” he stated. He believes that the average period of five years that is needed for implementing the strategy is enough for changing the legal system. The Info-Prim Neo interviews of the series “Year 2012 in Moldova’s and Moldovans’ life”, which were launched on December 6, include the opinions of 12 interviewees about the performance of the passing year. The interview with the minister of justice is the fifth one.