Seven candidates submitted their CVs to become Romania's judge at the European Court for Human Rights, replacing Corneliu Bîrsan, who will end his mandate on December 16 this year. The Romanian Government has been tasked with presenting a list of three candidates to the ECHR, after interviews with all seven candidates, and in the end the Parliamentary Assembly will vote for a judge.

The candidates who have submitted their CVs are Iulia Motoc, who is current a Constitutional Court judge, Cristina Coteanu, a doctor in law and a former state secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Bianca Gutan, a doctor in law and professor at the University Lucian Blaga in Sibiu, Florin Streteanu, a doctor in law and the dean of the Law Faculty at the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Paul Vasilescu, doctor in law and professor at the same faculty in Cluj – Napoca. The other two candidates are Codrin Miron and Tudor Panţîru.

The interviews at the Ministry of Justice will take place between June 12 and 14, and the list of three chosen after this interview will be sent to the Government. The Judicial and Human Rights Commissions in the Parliament need to give their green light before the Government can send the three proposals to the ECHR. When deciding on the list of three, besides professional criteria, the representation of men and women will also be taken into account. The commission that will choose the three candidates comprises nine members, including the Justice Minister Robert Cazanciuc, the Foreign Affairs Minister Titus Corlăţean, the Ombudsman Anastasiu Crişu, the Governmental agent for the ECHR Catrinel Brumar, the vice-president of the Superior Court of Magistrates Adrian Bordea, the supreme court judge Cristina Tarcea, the pro-dean of the Law Faculty at the Bucharest University Simina Tănăsescu, the pro-rector of the Babes Bolyai University Radu Catană, and the head of the Human Rights direction with the Justice Ministry Mădălina Manolache.

Romania's current judge at the ECHR took this position in 1998. He is currently 70, the retirement age. Age is one of the criteria when choosing a country's candidates, when two or several score similarly on professional criteria. The chosen ones must be able to serve at least half of their mandate by the age of 70.

The court has 49 judges, and is led by president Dean Spielmann from Luxembourg. The European Court of Human Rights is an international court set up in 1959. It rules on individual or State applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court is based in Strasbourg, in the Human Rights Building (in picture) designed by the British architect Lord Richard Rogers in 1994 From here, the Court monitors respect for the human rights of 800 million Europeans in the 47 Council of Europe member States that have ratified the Convention.

editor@romania-insider.com