Nicușor Dan tells young magistrates they must help restore trust in Romania’s justice system

President Nicușor Dan delivered a blunt message to Romania’s newest magistrates: the public’s trust in the state may depend on how they rule in individual cases.

Speaking at the Cotroceni Palace to newly appointed graduates of the National Institute of Magistracy, Dan said magistrates carry an unusually heavy responsibility. If a person believes one of them delivered justice, he said, that person will trust the Romanian state. If the person believes justice was denied, doubts may extend to the law, the state and society itself.

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You have a great responsibility, because I do not believe there is another administrative profession in this country in which the image of the Romanian state is more closely linked to the person holding the position.

Dan warned young magistrates about what he described as recurring professional temptations. Success at a demanding law school and selection from among many legal graduates could encourage arrogance, he said, while experience and continued learning should guard against it. He also cautioned against complacency and against automatically siding with the state.

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There is a temptation to give the state the benefit of the doubt. Why should that not be healthy? Because if the state was wrong once, it was wrong; and if it was wrong a second and third time, it was still wrong.

A state that makes a mistake remains wrong even if it repeats that mistake, Dan argued. He also urged magistrates not to follow the majority simply because everyone else is moving in the same direction. Their work requires the courage to maintain an independent view, he said.

Drawing on his own experience as Bucharest’s general mayor and as a litigant, Dan described the relationship between individuals and institutions as a central challenge for judges and prosecutors beginning their careers. He called justice a public service and said citizens’ confidence, currently at 25 percent according to his remarks, is the clearest measure of whether it is functioning properly.

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Have the courage of your own opinion, because the story about the system is always much more impressive than what we call the system.