Judgment of the Court Grand Chamber of 21 December 2021, Euro Box Promotion and Others, C-357/19, C-379/19, C-547/19, C-811/19 and C-840/19

• Date: 21 December 2021
• Year: 2021

31

X. JUDGMENTS PREVIOUSLY DELIVERED

1. VALUES OF THE UNION

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 21 December 2021, Euro Box Promotion and

Others, C-357/19, C-379/19, C-547/19, C-811/19 and C-840/19

Link to the complete text of the judgment

Reference for a preliminary ruling – Decision 2006/928/EC – Mechanism for cooperation and verification

of progress in Romania to address specific benchmarks in the areas of judicial reform and the fight

against corruption – Legal nature and effects – Binding on Romania – Rule of law – Judicial

independence – Second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU – Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental

Rights of the European Union – Fight against corruption – Protection of the European Union’s financial

interests – Article 325(1) TFEU – ‘PFI’ Convention – Criminal proceedings – Decisions of the Curtea

Constituțională (Constitutional Court, Romania) concerning the legality of the taking of certain evidence

and the composition of judicial panels in cases of serious corruption – Duty on national courts to give full

effect to the decisions of the Curtea Constituțională (Constitutional Court) – Disciplinary liability of judges

in case of non-compliance with such decisions – Power to disapply decisions of the Curtea Constituțională

(Constitutional Court) that conflict with EU law – Principle of primacy of EU law

The present cases follow on from the reform of the judicial system with regard to combating

corruption in Romania, which has already formed the subject matter of a previous judgment of the

Court of Justice.

48

That reform has been monitored at EU level since 2007 under the cooperation and

verification mechanism established by Decision 2006/928

49

on the occasion of Romania’s accession to

the European Union (‘the CVM’).

In those cases, the question arises as to whether the application of the case-law arising from various

decisions of the Curtea Constituțională a României (Constitutional Court, Romania; ‘the Constitutional

Court’) on the rules of criminal procedure applicable to fraud and corruption proceedings is liable to

infringe EU law, in particular the provisions of EU law intended to protect the financial interests of the

European Union, the guarantee of judicial independence and the value of the rule of law, as well as

the principle of the primacy of EU law.

In Cases C-357/19, C-547/19, C-811/19 and C-840/19, the Înalta Curte de Casaţie şi Justiţie (High Court

of Cassation and Justice, Romania; ‘the HCCJ’) had convicted several persons, including former

Members of Parliament and Ministers, of offences of VAT fraud, corruption and influence peddling,

inter alia in connection with the management of European funds. The Constitutional Court set aside

those decisions on the grounds of the unlawful composition of the panel of judges, stating, first, that

the cases on which the HCCJ had ruled at first instance should have been heard by a panel specialised

in corruption

50

and, second, that, in the cases on which the HCCJ had ruled on appeal, all the judges

of the panel of judges should have been selected by drawing lots.

51

48

Judgment of 18 May 2021, Asociația ‘Forumul Judecătorilor din România’ and Others (C-83/19, C-127/19, C-195/19, C-291/19, C-355/19 and

C-397/19, EU:C:2021:393).

49

Commission Decision 2006/928/EC of 13 December 2006 establishing a mechanism for cooperation and verification of progress in Romania

to address specific benchmarks in the areas of judicial reform and the fight against corruption (OJ 2006 L 354, p. 56).

50

Judgment of 3 July 2019, No 417/2019.

51

Judgment of 7 November 2018, No 685/2018.