The Action against Corruption in the Republic of Moldova presented the results of the assessment on the review of the national framework on selection and promotion of judges with a focus on integrity verifications during an online round table on 24 June 2021. The event was attended by representatives of the Superior Council of Magistracy and its professional boards, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Ministry of Justice, the National Integrity Authority, the National Institute of Justice, the National Anticorruption Centre and development partners.

In his opening speech, Mr Evgeni Evgeniev, Head of Unit, Economic Crime and Cooperation Division, Council of Europe, noted that the assessment aims to advise the national authorities on possible ways to further plan and implement needed reforms, in view of making the selection and promotion procedures of judges more simple, effective and transparent while ensuring appropriate tools to verify all integrity risks.

Representatives of the Superior Council of Magistracy and its professional boards highlighted that the challenges identified by the team of experts should be addressed through legislative amendments and emphasized a need for a complete restructuring of the current system of selection and promotion of judges in order to consolidate the integrity checking mechanisms.

• The event facilitated an exchange of opinions between the national authorities with competences in selection and promotion of candidate-judges in view of identifying the existing challenges and also offered the opportunity to address these topics with the Council of Europe experts and discuss mechanisms to further improve the national framework and existing practices in line with GRECO recommendations, international good practices and standards. The discussions and recommendations presented during the event addressed the following subjects:
• Challenges in the current system of selection and promotion of judges by the judiciary and mechanisms to verify candidates’ integrity
• Legislative and regulatory provisions and possible amendments to ensure transparent and effective verifications of candidate-judges with a major focus on integrity risks
• The mandate of the anti-corruption authorities in selection/promotion procedures
• Possible ways to reform the selection and promotion system in view of improving the existing integrity verification tools and consolidate inter-institutional coordination

In its Second Compliance Report of Fourth Evaluation Round on the Republic of Moldova, GRECO emphasized that appropriate measures need to be taken, with due regard to judicial independence, in order to avoid the appointment and promotion to judicial positions of candidates presenting integrity risks as well as abolishing the five-year probation period for judges. GRECO also underlined that there should be clear, predictable and comprehensive rules on how the integrity of candidate-judges is to be checked by the judiciary, before they are appointed and/or promoted and ensuring that such rules are consistently applied in practice (Recommendation IX).

This activity was organized within the framework of the project “Action against corruption in the Republic of Moldova”, funded by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the US Department of State and implemented by the Council of Europe.