Romania’s Constitutional Court delivered a significant victory to the country’s pro-European Union government on Wednesday, approving sweeping changes to judicial retirement benefits and age requirements.
The ruling allows Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s administration to move forward with reforms that will gradually increase the retirement age for judges and prosecutors from approximately 50 years old to the standard 65 over the next 15 years.
Additionally, the approved measures will limit judicial pensions to 70% of an individual’s final gross salary. Currently, judicial retirement benefits fall into a special category that operates independently of tax contributions, with monthly payments reaching approximately 5,000 euros ($5,800) — significantly higher than Romania’s national average of 600 euros.
The government’s broad coalition initially attempted to implement these judicial pension modifications last year as part of requirements to secure EU recovery and resilience funding.
However, the Constitutional Court rejected the original legislation in October due to technical issues, prompting officials to draft and approve revised measures.
“The reform of special pensions has been much requested by Romanian society and we are achieving a great step towards equality,” government officials stated in their announcement.
The European Commission maintained special oversight of Romania’s judicial system for corruption concerns from the country’s 2007 EU membership until 2023.
However, recent developments have raised new concerns about anti-corruption efforts, as the pace of corruption investigations has decreased since 2023, and several high-profile acquittals have sparked questions about the momentum of graft-fighting initiatives.
These concerns intensified last December when approximately 700 judges and prosecutors made allegations of ongoing systemic misconduct within the justice system, leading to several days of street demonstrations focused on anti-corruption themes.
Bolojan’s coalition government, which assumed power in June, has weathered six no-confidence votes, primarily related to tax increases and spending reductions designed to address the European Union’s largest budget deficit and maintain Romania’s investment-grade debt status.
Despite these challenges, the four-party coalition continues to face difficulties reaching consensus on public sector employment and spending reductions, with the 2026 budget still awaiting approval.
