A comic story has unfolded in our neighboring country. The Supreme Court managed to secure a court order requiring the government to pay 4.8 billion Romanian lei (€960 million) in unpaid salaries.
It turns out that the threats by our judges to organize protests over the Sandu regime’s refusal to raise their salaries are only a faint echo of what is happening in Romania. There, a real government drama has unfolded. The country’s authorities failed to control judges whom they themselves appointed and had until now considered fully under their control. But the golem refused to obey. Especially when money became the issue.
Romania’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling this week that Bucharest is already calling historic. The judges refused to recognize a “constitutional conflict” between the government and the Supreme Court. In other words, the government lost and the judges won.
The Price of the Dispute
Back in May, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ordered the government and the Finance Ministry to pay judges salary arrears. The arrears came from increases granted retroactively through court decisions. The total was 4.8 billion lei, or about €960 million. There is also a penalty of 1% for each day of delay. That means 48 million lei a day.
The government was, to put it mildly, unhappy. Acting Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan angrily said that the court had “replaced the executive and legislative branches in the budget sphere” and “has neither the technical competence nor the legitimacy to decide how public money is allocated.” But emotions are one thing, and a court ruling is another. The government cannot simply ignore it.
The government then took an unusual step. It asked the Constitutional Court to rule on a “constitutional conflict” with the Supreme Court. Its argument was that the judges had exceeded their powers by ordering the executive branch to allocate money to one sector — the judiciary.
And on October 7, the Constitutional Court rejected the complaint as unfounded. Well, what did they expect? That colleagues would rule against their own?
The court’s wording was devastating for the government:
“A lost dispute does not become a constitutional conflict, and the Constitutional Court cannot be turned into a way of appealing court decisions.”
The court explained that the government’s arguments concerned “the legality and justification of the court ruling.” Such issues can only be challenged through ordinary appeals, not through the constitutional conflict mechanism. And ordinary appeals will be considered… by the same side the authorities are trying to complain about. The circle is complete.
The Supreme Court did not hide its satisfaction. In an official statement, it said that the Constitutional Court judges had “demonstrated their commitment to the fundamental values of the Romanian state” and “shown society that the strict application of the law cannot be subject to bargaining or distortion.” But that is not really the point.
The Constitutional Court’s decision means that the government has to pay. And it has to pay quickly. Otherwise, the 48 million lei daily penalty will keep piling up like a running meter.
Bolojan had previously warned that if the Supreme Court won, it would create a precedent: “any budget authority unhappy with its allocated funds could go to court and force the Finance Ministry to increase its budget under the threat of fines.” But he is, of course, exaggerating. Not just anyone. Only judges who hold the power to decide what is legal and what is not. And they have shown that power quite clearly. So clearly that even our judges in Moldova have decided to follow their example. For now, carefully and on a small scale. But for now…
