Speaker after Constitutional Court’s decision in von Hebel case: We will amend law where necessary

Speaker Igor Grosu said that the parliamentary majority would examine the arguments of the Constitutional Court (CC) regarding its declaration that legislative amendments concerning the voting threshold for members of the evaluation commission for prosecutors and judges proposed by development partners were unconstitutional. The speaker said that the law would be amended wherever necessary after the Court’s reasoned decision had been analyzed.

Referring to the effects of the ruling, he said that it would not apply retroactively, meaning that Herman von Hebel and Bernard Lavigne would retain their positions on the evaluation commissions. He said that the authorities would analyze the Court’s reasoned ruling and amend the legislation in line with its recommendations.


“We will wait for the Court’s reasoned decision, look it over, and amend the law wherever necessary,” Grosu said.


In the same context, Igor Grosu rejected earlier criticism of Dutch expert Herman von Hebel, who was proposed by development partners to participate in the external evaluation process for judges and prosecutors. According to the speaker, the proposals regarding the experts came from development partners, not from the Ministry of Justice or Parliament.


“The Netherlands is a highly respected country within the European Union, one that places great importance on everything related to the rule of law and justice reform, and which has helped us with the evaluation process since the beginning of the reform,” Grosu said.


He described the criticism of the expert as “a politically motivated, invented claim” and argued that it had been used to condition the vote on the legislative amendments.


“Some tried to cheat. And I repeat my message: you cannot bargain with us in this way,” he said.


Grosu also said that, in his view, the critics had not presented convincing arguments against the expert, even referring to remarks concerning the tea he drank during the evaluation interviews.

Before the legislative amendments were adopted, the appointment of Dutch expert Herman von Hebel to the External Evaluation Commission for Judges and Prosecutors was criticized by several opposition groups, including Our Party and the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM). Their representatives challenged the appointment procedure and expressed reservations about the transparency and objectivity of the evaluation process. The Socialists announced that they would not support the candidacies of Herman von Hebel and Bernard Lavigne, while representatives of Our Party criticized the legality of the expert’s appointment and the change to the voting threshold.