Magistrates’ pensions, in the attention of the ruling coalition

The political decision-makers in Bucharest are trying, once again, to find a solution to the complicated file of the pensions received by magistrates.

Bogdan Matei, 29.10.2025, 13:50

The leaders of the governing coalition in Bucharest established, in their meeting on Tuesday, that the Executive should draft a new bill on magistrates’ pensions, for which they should assume responsibility in Parliament. It is a topic that has been stirring up controversy for weeks and is causing strong polemics in the pro-European coalition, made up by PSD-PNL-USR-UDMR. According to political sources, liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan rejected the PSD proposal that this bill be adopted by Parliament under emergency order.
The Social Democrats do not oppose the Prime Minister’s intention, but they fear that the option chosen by Bolojan will exceed the date of November 28, when the law must be adopted, as Romania assumed in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, agreed on with the European Commission. A new project became necessary after the Constitutional Court admitted the complaint filed by the High Court of Cassation of Justice in relation to the law on magistrates’ pensions and established that the normative act, for which the Government had also undertaken responsibility in Parliament, is unconstitutional. The decision concerned procedural aspects, the main reason invoked by the Constitutional Court for invalidating the law being the lack of an advisory opinion from the Higher Council of Magistracy. According to the High Court, the incriminated law violated dozens of binding decisions of the Constitutional Court and numerous fundamental principles of the rule of law.

The Prime Minister had argued that Romanian judges and prosecutors retire at 48-49 years of age and an average pension in the judiciary exceeds 24,000 lei (the equivalent of about 4,800 euros). Many pensions reach 35,000-40,000 lei, especially for magistrates who have also held management positions. This is perceived as scandalous in a society where the average pension is equivalent to about 500 euros, money for which an ordinary person works for 35-40 years. “Through the reform that we propose, there will be a transitional period of 10 years, at the end of which the retirement of magistrates will be at 65 years of age, the standard retirement age in Romania” said the Prime Minister.

In addition, PM Bolojan had announced the capping of the pension of a magistrate from 100% to 70% of the net income for their last month at work, that is 14,000 -15,000 lei. “The Constitutional Court judges send a resounding ‘no’ to any attempt to weaken the independence of the judiciary and the constitutional status of the judiciary. The independence of the judiciary cannot be negotiated, nor relativized by circumstantial arguments. It is a fundamental condition of democracy and the rule of law”, the High Court responded, in a statement.

Analysts of the turmoiled political scene in Bucharest note that the game between the governors and the magistrates has already entered overtime. They warn that, if the match is not decided next month, Romania will lose over 230 million euros, which should come from Brussels, under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Commentators also signal an anomaly that is impossible to correct: the referees of the game actually play for one of the teams. Magistrates themselves, the Constitutional Court judges are, in turn, beneficiaries of the special pensions. (EE)