Veronica Mihailov-Moraru: “We will continue to make progress in the judicial system by solving problems and maintaining dialogue with the institutions targeted by justice reform, development partners and civil society”
November 7, 2023, Chisinau – Significant improvements in the quality of legal services in the country, the lack of fair remuneration for lawyers who provide state-guaranteed legal assistance, the need to improve the mechanism for recovering court costs. These are some of the findings of the “Report on the analysis of court monitoring data”, following the monitoring of 800 court hearings, which took place between July 2022 and May 2023, and the analysis of 400 court decisions, issued between 2020 and 2022.
“The findings and recommendations in the report are valuable not only for the Ministry of Justice, but also for all legal institutions, courts, prosecutor’s offices, because they highlighted aspects of the justice system that need to be improved, in order to facilitate access to justice, but also to improve the quality of the judicial act, of court decisions. Some recommendations have already been implemented: court fees were revised, salaries for auxiliary staff in the courts (clerks, judicial assistants) were increased, but also the fixed monthly remuneration for paralegals and staff within the state-guaranteed legal aid system was extended the list of beneficiaries of state-guaranteed legal assistance, including for persons with disabilities, in order to increase access to justice for all citizens”, Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru pointed out.
The Minister of Justice also said that corruption is one of the factors fueling the perception of distrust in the judiciary. “The Ministry of Justice will continue the implementation of the reforms started, to fight corruption and promote the integrity of actors in the judiciary, which will lead to a change in society’s perception of the judicial system. The recommendations in the report confirm the need to continue the constructive dialogue with the relevant institutions within the Consultative Council of the Ministry of Justice, but also to plan the next actions. Changes in justice take time, but we want them to be sustainable over time”, said Veronica Mihailov-Moraru.
At the end, the Minister of Justice thanked the international partners, donors, the project team, the experts who contribute with their experience to the achievement of the major objective of the Ministry of Justice – an accessible, transparent, efficient and responsible justice.
The head of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, Jānis Mažeikis, representatives of the judicial system, legal professions, academia, civil society, experts and representatives of the Lithuanian authorities were present at the event. The “Report on the analysis of court monitoring data” was developed within the project “Increasing transparency, accountability and access to the judicial system”, financed by the European Union.
