Prosecutors Await Promotions Amid 'Worrying Situation'

Prosecutors are expressing deep concern over a prolonged lack of promotions to higher positions within the Prosecutor's Office, citing a "worrying situation" that negatively impacts the institution's work.

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We do not question that making personnel decisions of this kind is the exclusive prerogative of the Minister of Justice, who does not have to explain them, just as the request to appoint to these positions is the exclusive competence of the National Prosecutor. However, we believe that one of the fundamental principles that should guide those making personnel decisions in the Prosecutor's Office is their transparency, so that citizens can know what substantive grounds justified the appointment of a given person to a higher position and, conversely, why the request for such an appointment was not considered.

The "Lex Super Omnia" Prosecutors' Association board stated that while the Minister of Justice has the sole authority for personnel decisions, transparency is crucial. They noted that for months, no promotions to higher ranks have been announced, despite the legal right to make such decisions. The lack of explanation for these decisions violates the principle of transparency, according to the association.

This stagnation in promotions weakens prosecutor's offices at all levels, particularly the lower-tier regional prosecutor's offices. Prosecutors who do not receive promotions are often delegated to higher-level units, leaving their home offices understaffed. The association has long criticized these delegations, sometimes lasting for years, as a "pathology."

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The lack of personnel flow, resulting from the absence of promotions to higher positions, weakens the staff of units at all levels, but especially the lowest-level units, i.e., regional prosecutor's offices. This is because prosecutors in these units, not receiving promotions to higher positions, are delegated to higher-level units, which weakens their parent units, which cannot fill staff shortages in this situation. Such, sometimes years-long, delegations have been criticized by us for years as a pathology.

The board emphasized that the lack of transparency regarding promotions, coupled with the real staffing needs of prosecutor's offices, requires an explanation for the current situation and urgent consideration of pending promotion requests at the Ministry of Justice.

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the non-transparency of decisions on the lack of promotions to higher positions and the real needs of the Prosecutor's Office units require an explanation of the reasons for the current situation and urgent consideration of the promotion requests pending at the Ministry of Justice.