Request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel București (Romania) lodged on 12 December 2023 – RL, QN, MR, JT, VS, AX v Curtea de Apel București

(Case C-762/23, Curtea de Apel București)

Language of the case: Romanian

Referring court

Curtea de Apel București

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellants: RL, QN, MR, JT, VS, AX

Respondent: Curtea de Apel București

Intervening party: Consiliul Național pentru Combaterea Discriminării

Question referred

Must the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU (read in conjunction with Article 2 TEU) be interpreted as meaning that the principle of judicial independence precludes the repeal, in respect of Romanian judges with 20 consecutive years’ service in the judiciary, of the right to receive, on retirement or on termination of service for other reasons not attributable to them, a sum equal to seven gross monthly seniority allowances, in the event that the exercise of that right to remuneration is suspended prior to repeal, on a continuous basis and for a prolonged period, for reasons connected principally to the need to eliminate an excessive budget deficit (the legislature expressly invokes the threshold of 3% of gross domestic product laid down in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)?

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