The Venice Commission, a specialized rule of law body of the Council of Europe, announced on Monday that it will issue an opinion in December 2022 on Romania’s justice laws, which are now being debated at high speed in the Romanian Parliament.

It should be recalled that last week the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, asked Bucharest not to adopt the justice laws without this opinion of the Venice Commission.

The timetable is extremely tight for Romania, given that the government majority wants to adopt the three justice laws by November when the European Commission’s CVM report is expected.

Justice minister Cătălin Predoiu initiated three draft laws in the summer, which were adopted by the government and sent to parliament for debate.

The bills have been heavily criticized by several magistrates and civil society organizations, which have criticized the maintenance of most of the measures already taken by Liviu Dragnea and Tudorel Toader.

Parliament has shortened the period for debating the drafts as much as possible, setting up a special committee for this purpose, which has shortened the debate time.

More to come on this subject