Judges’ Salaries to Increase by About 20% from July

Sergiu Caraman, President of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM), said the promotion was an “important and necessary step” to attract young specialists to the justice system. The base rate for payroll process of judges will be increased from 3,000 to 3,600 lei. In practice, this means an increase in the salary of a trial judge by 5,600 lei, noi.md reported citing cotidianul.md. “In order to attract the best candidates for these positions, it is necessary to provide guarantees and make the position of a judge attractive. Currently, the salary of a judge is lower than that of other civil servants in the public system, especially in law enforcement,” said Sergiu Caraman. The SCM chairman noted that the trial judge currently receives a salary of about 22,000 lei, from which deductions are made. In comparison, other civil servants receive various allowances that significantly increase their monthly income, which does not apply to judges. “A judge receives only a salary while other officials receive many allowances. Besides, society wants an independent judiciary, but many judges are leaving. A cheap judiciary is costing us dearly,” Caraman emphasized. He also drew attention to the fact that in recent years judges had been deprived of a number of guarantees that had made the job more attractive, such as early retirement or a lump-sum severance payment, which had been reduced from 80% to 50% of their salary.