Justice Ministry questions new Law on Prosecutor General
The Moldovan Ministry of Justice deems the proposed law by deputies regarding the appointment of the Attorney General as unpredictable. Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru stated that she has conveyed several objections and recommendations regarding the evaluation criteria and voting procedure.
Despite this, the document received approval from the relevant institution. Tomorrow, the project is set for second reading discussions by deputies.
Justice Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru argues that the law proposing the exclusion of mandatory scoring in the selection process for the Prosecutor General has several gaps.
"Conceptually, we support this initiative, but with several objections and recommendations. The evaluation criteria need to be more precise and concrete to ensure clear predictability that the Prosecutor General will be chosen based on clear criteria. However, we agreed that when candidates for the position of Prosecutor General are evaluated, there should be clear evaluation benchmarks, either in the form of yes or no, or through scoring, to be validated by the vote of the entire body," clarified Veronica Mihailov-Moraru.
A few days ago, approximately 20 civil society organisations urged Parliament to withdraw the amendment that allows the election of the Prosecutor General by vote. In their opinion, selecting the candidate based on a score is safer and reduces the risk of manipulating competition results. However, their request was ignored.
Adopted in the first reading, the modification states that the Prosecutor General will be elected by the majority vote of the members of the Superior Council of the Prosecution, replacing the current system where the selection is based on the score given by each member of the CSP.
It is worth mentioning that the competition for the position of Prosecutor General was initiated on October 23 and was later extended until December 29.
In total, six individuals entered the competition. The Superior Council of Prosecutors is now responsible for assessing the eligibility of candidates and conducting interviews. After selecting a candidate, appointment to the position requires the president's confirmation through a presidential decree.
It is important to note that the head of state has the right to reject the candidacy proposed by the CSP: only once.
The position of Prosecutor General became vacant after, at the end of September last year, President Maia Sandu dismissed Alexandr Stoianoglo from office. Later, Stoianoglo challenged the presidential decree in court. A decision has not yet been pronounced.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
