Vetting of Judges: results in 2024 and objectives for 2025

The year 2024 marked an important step in the judicial reform process in the Republic of Moldova, with the fundamental goal of ensuring the integrity of judges and, consequently, trust in the justice system. The vetting process of judges, conducted by the Judicial Vetting Commission, played a crucial role in achieving this objective, continuing to be a subject of public interest and debate. Throughout the year, significant progress was made, but challenges also emerged in implementing this unique, extraordinary, and time-limited procedure. Here are the main achievements of the Vetting Commission in evaluating different categories of subjects.

Evaluation of judicial self-administration bodies

Continuing the mandate of the Pre-Vetting Commission, the Vetting Commission took on the responsibility of evaluating, in addition to other categories of subjects, the candidates for positions on the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) who submitted their candidacies after 1 September 2023, as well as candidates for positions in the Selection and Evaluation of Borad of Judges and the Disciplinary Biard, regardless of the date of candidacy submission. In 2024, the Vetting Commission successfully completed the evaluation of all candidates received under the pre-vetting law.

A total of 26 candidates for positions in the self-administration bodies of judges underwent the full evaluation process conducted by the Vetting Commission. Of the candidates who passed the evaluation for vacant positions in the SCM, two were appointed by Parliament to the current composition of the SCM. Additionally, from the 17 candidates who passed the evaluation for the SCM Boards, the General Assembly of Judges, on 19 December, elected three judges to the Selection and Evaluation Board and four judges to the Disciplinary Board. However, the composition of both SCM boards remains incomplete.

Supreme Court of Justice

The next phase, following pre-vetting, was the vetting of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), which was conducted simultaneously with the evaluation of other categories of subjects. This was carried out by assessing the integrity of both sitting judges of the SCJ and candidates for the position of SCJ judge.

Of the 25 judges in the previous composition of the SCJ, 22 chose not to undergo evaluation and resigned, while three opted for evaluation. Of these three, two failed the evaluation. The new composition of the SCJ includes only one judge from the previous court.

This year, the Vetting Commission evaluated over 30 SCJ candidates, with 12 passing the integrity assessment. Following the verifications conducted by the SCM, four new judges were appointed to the SCJ. To complete the court's composition, 15 more judges need to be appointed. Recently, the Vetting Commission received three additional SCJ candidates for evaluation. As of now, the evaluation of four candidates is still ongoing, and the report for one candidate, who has already been heard, is in the process of approval.

Court of Appeals

Simultaneously with the vetting of the SCJ, the integrity evaluation at the Courts of Appeal level was initiated. All four courts of appeals in the republic of Moldova were notified about the start of the vetting process and are currently undergoing evaluation. In this context, more than half of the judges have resigned: 21 out of 40 judges from the Chișinău Court of Appeal, 12 out of 17 judges from the Bălți Court of Appeal, 3 out of 6 judges from the Cahul Court of Appeal, and 1 out of 4 judges from the Comrat Court of Appeal.

Despite challenges related to tight deadlines and difficulties such as the complexity of the evaluation process and lack of cooperation from certain institutions or individuals, the evaluation of the courts of appeal remains a priority for the Vetting Commission in the coming year. The Commission will announce the schedule for public hearings at the start of the year.

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