FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG THE PRE-VETTING PHASES: THE UNSEEN FACE OF JUSTICE REFORM 2.7 New myths:“Justice should not be independent” and“International standards in the field of justice do not work in Moldova” The adoption of Law 26/2022 marked the beginning of the latest reform in the field of justice, based on the ex­traordinary evaluation of the members of the SCM and SCP(pre-vetting) and of judges and prosecutors(vetting). Two and a half years later, the first cycle of this reform has ended, but many complaints have been directed at its speed and efficiency. During this period, frustrations over the ineffectiveness of the justice reform have culminated in new narratives that promise to foreshadow further justice reforms. One of these new myths, which emerged in autumn 2024 – propagated by one of the members of the reformed SCM through the pre-vetting process, appointed to the SCM by the Parliament from among civil society – is that justice should not be independent and that it should be accept­ed both in the SCM and in other entities. Previously, in autumn 2023, he made another public statement that was inexplicable given his status as a SCM member, namely that the State of the Republic of Moldova needed under­take human rights violations in certain circumstances, and that the conviction of state authorities by the ECtHR was normal. CASE STUDY 3. Member of the SCM, Ion Guzun:“The state needs to take responsibility for human rights violations. We have to accept that the judiciary is not independent” Unimedia.md, 11 September 2024,“We have to accept that the judiciary is not independent.” The statement was made by the member of the SCM, Ion Guzun, during the TV show‘Punctul pe azi’ on TVR Moldova. 30 “To make a comparison, Switzerland, being a neutral state, is already se­riously discussing, on the military side, how to have better cooperation with NATO and other authorities. That is why, within the SCM and other entities, we have to accept that the judiciary is not independent, we have to communicate, we have to cooperate with other entities,” Ion Guzun said. Rlive.md, 26 September 2023, Rezoomat, the member of the SCM, Ion Guzun, said that as long as the right to life is not af­fected, the state of Moldova has to undertake the violation of human rights and that the situation of conviction of any state authorities by the ECtHR would be normal. 31 “We have to undertake, as a country, that we,[...] any entity, at some point in time, can be subject to condemnations at the ECtHR. The most important thing is that we make sure that we do not violate the right to life, that we improve things along the way, that we change things or, at least, that all the judgments made(...) have guaranteed the right to de­fence[...], even if in the end it was unfavourable. From my point of view, a conviction by the ECtHR is condemnable, because it shows that the Republic of Moldova has not fulfilled certain commitments, I don’t know, for example, the rule of law, certainly by paying some money from the state budget, but there exist issues that the state has to undertake.” The second myth that emerged in the electoral period be­tween the first and second rounds of the presidential elections was announced by the President of the Republic of Moldova, according to which“good international practices of justice reform did not work in the Republic of Moldova” and, in the post-electoral period, truly drastic measures would have to be taken, for which“white gloves” would have to be taken off. CASE STUDY 4. President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu:“International good practices in the field of justice reform have proved insufficient and ineffective for Moldova” Newsmaker.md, 25 October 2024,“Immediately after the elections, the Parliament and the Government have to take completely different measures. Maia Sandu named“the most important lesson””. 32 “The most important lesson, if you ask me, is that you can’t do justice re­form wearing“white gloves”, as the citizens say, and I heard them saying that we had to act much tougher. And this is what we will do, this is what the Parliament and the Government need to do as soon as this election is over. Good international practices in terms of judicial reform have proved insufficient and ineffective in the case of Moldova, where this corruption has penetrated too deeply. And these people in the system, behind the façade of the independence of the judiciary, have now ended up betray­ing the country and jeopardizing the future of this country. This can’t go on. So immediately after these elections, the Parliament and the Govern­ment need to take measures totally different from what has been done so far”, Maia Sandu said. “We must not break the law, this is not a way, but the law must be made differently and extraordinary methods must be used. We are in an excep­tional situation, with risks to the security of the state, to our democracy, when people who have a lot of money come and buy the decision of the sovereign people of the Republic of Moldova. So we are in an exceptional situation. During the electoral campaign, the institutions must sanction them, identify all those who are involved in these schemes, but after the end of this campaign, the Parliament and the Government need to and I know that they will come up with exceptional measures that will be in line with the situation we are in,” Maia Sandu concluded. Conclusions of Chapter II.‘Myths of justice reform in Moldova’ − Justice reform in Moldova is heavily marked by myths that reflect the tensions between public expectations and reality. Although there have been significant efforts to‘clean up’ the justice system, the process has stalled due to internal conflicts between Moldovan politicians and the judiciary. 30 https://unimedia.info/ro/news/fc3283b5ae595bcf/video-membrul-csm-ion-guzun-trebuie-sa-acceptam-ca-puterea-judecatoreasca-nu-este-indepen­denta.html 31 https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=833538594907712&sw_fnr_id=650697843&fnr_t=2 32 https://newsmaker.md/ro/imediat-dupa-alegeri-parlamentul-si-guvernul-trebuie-sa-ia-masuri-total-diferite-maia-sandu-a-numit-cea-mai-impor­tanta-lectie/ 20