Recently, the European Court of Human Rights handed down a series of judgments in cases against Romania, which have received little attention in the Romanian press, less even so among political leaders.
Tătar c. Roumanie is, let’s call it, an isolated incident (an environmental law case where the Court finds Romania in breach of its obligation under Article 8 of the European Convention). The Affaire Viaşu c. Roumanie on the other hand is yet another story, one about a failed system. Here the Court reiterates its ah-so-numerous similar cases and point the finger to the systemic problems of Romanian restitution law, or in the not particularly diplomatic words of the ECrtHR itself “activité normative surabondante et ... largement inefficace”. The Court goes one step further and takes the liberty “pour aider l'État défendeur” to emphasize the sort of measures that Romania – as a sovereign but obviously incompetent state – should take in order to comply with its obligations under the Convention.
Now, given such a decision why the silence in Romania? No worries, I will not even dare to argue that the decision of the EcrHR should be taken seriously ab initio simply because it is a decision of the European Court. Nope. Two other aspects would be in my view more ‘competent’ to move the political circle/circus in Bucharest to consider the decision. Embarrassment & money.
Why embarrassment? What the Court is in fact saying in its latest cases is that the Romanian legislators for the past 20 years have been incompetent and/or unwilling to put together a system that works. Instead, through their legislative oeuvre they managed to literally jam the Court with right to property cases, in such a manner that the judges grow increasingly desperate… I am embarrassed, but my representatives in the Parliament seem not to be… the press might help here, at least a bit.
Why money? Firstly count the money that is paid for awarded damages, that’s not peanuts. Think also of the amounts lawyers get for their defense of the Romanian state, I can assure you it’s substantial. Ok, let’s be thorough, think of something as hilarious as the cost of nights spent by the defense team of the Romanian state in 5 stars hotels in Strasbourg and the freaking plane tickets bought 3 days in advance and not 3 months when they are cheaper. Ok, I am no longer a taxpayer in Romania but I continue to be pissed. Hmmm… I guess it’s just me!
Do you notice someting? There might be some reasons not to be embarrassed by the harsh judgments of the ECrtHR, especially if one happens to be a lawyer benefitting from the huge legislative mess, hmm interesting disincentives…
P.s. See some great comments on both judgement
here and
here.
