PM Tudose on Justice package: Certain changes a must, no civilized state without independent justice

Premier Mihai Tudose, speaking on Thursday evening on a TV channel, said that certain changes regarding the laws of justice must be made, as no civilized and functional state can exist without independent justice. 

Asked at private broadcaster Antena 3 to state his position on the necessity to adopt the laws of justice, Tudose replied: "I think certain changes need to be done. We want a strong state, we want a state whose three pillar powers - legislature, executive, and the judiciary - each do their job and none supersedes the other. Let there be no abuse by either party. Let neither politics interfere with justice - as this would be a disaster - nor justice meddle with politics, because it would bode the same disaster. There have been slippages on all sides, we've had Presidents who were meddling with the other two powers, we've had all the possible situations in Romania, all combinations. This must stop, and I think we are in the situation where everyone wants such a state of affairs (...) to stop. This is how I feel." 

The head of the government cautioned that justice should not be the "boss" of the others. 

"We want a normal Romania, we want a normal country, but (...) there is no civilized, functional state without independent justice, yet independent doesn't mean that it should be the boss of everyone else. No state exists without being headed by a government authority, but this is the executive arm, it does not rule above all, and the same goes for justice and everybody else. In the legislating area, Parliament is the fundamental institution of democracy, but this does not mean that Parliament is the head of justice or (...) that Parliament hands down rulings," said Tudose. 

According to the PM, a very clear and well-defined legislative system is needed. 

"If everyone see to their own province and do it well, and we also have a legal framework in place to put things in order, and each power is functional and prevents the others from overstepping each other - and in fact this is not necessarily about the power itself, but rather about individuals, their exponents, as we don't talk about an antagonism en bloc to each other but about personal vendettas or, who knows, someone's thirst for grandeur and taking someone else as a target. In my opinion, a very clear and well-defined legislative system is indeed necessary," Tudose concluded.AGERPRES .