« Being magistrate should not be volunteering »: young magistrates express dismay in open letter
« It is therefore much more than that pension reform and our remuneration, » says the East Flemish public prosecutor Hanne Ollevier. « Parquet magistrate are required a certain idealism, but it should also not be volunteering. »
In recent days it has already been shown that there is a fear within the magistrate for a loss of purchasing power of 30 to 40 percent for magistrates with retirement if all measures from the coalition agreement, the policy statement and the Easter agreement are added together. In concrete terms, it is about the limited indexation of pensions above 5,250 euros gross, the lack of transitional measures and the fact that from 2027 you must have been mentioned before your 27th and you must have bought up your study years to build a full pension.
« For many magistrates, that is really the drop that makes the bucket overflow, » says Ollevier. “But those measures are only the coat rack on which the letter is hung, the dissatisfaction goes much further, and starts with the circumstances in which we have to work as magistrates. For example, I have colleagues who have to call in the hallway because they do not have a mobile phone range in their desk, I have colleagues who are asked to work out at home and not for the umpteenth time. who are not worthy of a rule of law. «
Sepon
In addition, and certainly no less important, the magistrate has been struggling for decades with a staff shortage. “De wettelijke kaders zijn verouderd en zijn al jaren niet opgevuld, waardoor er een nijpend tekort aan mensen is. Dat tekort is zo groot dat het ouderschapsverlof waar we sinds kort recht op hebben, eigenlijk een lege doos is. Mensen durven dat niet opnemen om hun collega’s, die al verzuipen in hun eigen dossiers, niet nog meer te belasten. Ik ken collega’s die aan het werk blijven hoewel ze ziek zijn, zelfs iemand die aan de slag is gebleven na een ongeval waarbij die had sustained a break in the face. «
« I often have to make decisions that I actually do not agree with, files that I would like to bring to court »
Hanne Ollevier
East Flemish Public Prosecutor
The deficit also ensures that files are dismissed that should actually be investigated, the public prosecutor must admit. « I often have to make decisions that I actually do not agree with, dossiers that I would like to bring to court, but that I know will not succeed. Because the police have no time and people to conduct the investigation, and because the roles of the courts are crowded. That regularly delivers angry reactions from victims and civilians. »
Work for 30 hours
Ollevier does not dispute that magistrates get a nice wage. “But there is a lot in it. There is not only the stress of the work itself, there are also the working conditions, the long working days, in which we sometimes work 30 hours at a time when we have a night shift, and where those night shifts are sometimes not even reimbursed. There are the criticism and attacks on Justice, with sometimes very personal attacks, there are no special measures that were taken from politics. Loon.
After all, in the corridors there are already a lot of colleagues who think about another job aloud, according to the Magistrate. « Certainly for very specific and specialized profiles, it is difficult to find the right people, while that is precisely the profiles that we desperately need because crime is constantly specializing. »
Independence in danger
According to the authors of the Open Letter and according to Public Prosecutor Ollevier, the independence of the magistrate is gradually in danger. “It is not an open attack on the rule of law, but rather a subtle erosion. I do not know if people on the political side are aware of how dangerous the evolution is doing. It is no longer the question whether there are still big crises, but when. We have probably been silent on the table for too long on the part of the magistrate, but now it is that it is sorry. Wanting to contribute to us are still in the right place. «
