Argumentum ad baculum, or how to imagine a judicial system without a non-unitary case law overnight. Case C-606/24, Ministerul Finanţelor

Dragoş Călin

The legislative amendments promoted by the Romanian Government through the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 62/2024, in June 2024, have sparked numerous discussions in the Romanian legal community, especially in view of the increased potential to affect the independence of judges.

In this regard, on 12 September 2024, the Bucharest Tribunal - Second Division for Administrative and Tax Disputes referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union, under Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, with the following question for a preliminary ruling:

"Should the second paragraph of Article 19 (1) of the Treaty on European Union (with reference to Article 2 of the TEU and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights) be interpreted as meaning that the principle of the judicial independence precludes national...