RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE PENSION SYSTEM OF HUNGARIAN JUDGES

 

 

The European Association of Judges
At the meeting in Valencia on 30th March 2007
unanimously adopted the following

RESOLUTION

Whereas:
(1) The European Association of Judges had unanimously approved at its meeting in Vilnius in June 2006 the conclusions of its working party on salaries and pension systems for European Judges, one conclusion of which was:

"A general cause of concern is the situation of judges after retirement. ……Often it is argued that after retirement judges should be treated in the same manner as all other citizens in a particular country. This argument overlooks the important point that a guarantee of a financially safe future in retirement will be a powerful incentive to independence during a judge's period in office. "

(2) The European Charter on the Statute for Judges, (which is an essential document of the Council of Europe which was set out in the Council's THEMIS PLAN activities for the development and consolidation of democratic stability in 1998), states in its Article 6.4.

"6.4. In particular the statute ensures that judges who have reached the legal age of judicial retirement, having performed their judicial duties for a fixed period, are paid a retirement pension, the level of which must be as close as possible to the level of their final salary as a judge"

The European Association of Judges notes with much concern that the Hungarian system of pension for judges on their retirement results in a large difference between the income of a judge in office and one who has retired. As a result of this unacceptably large difference, it is the conclusion of the European Association of Judges that the two fundamental principles set out in internationally approved documents quoted above are not fulfilled by the Hungarian system of pensions for judges on their retirement.

Valencia, 30.3.2007