The President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has returned the Law on Special Pensions for Judges and Prosecutors to the Saeima for reconsideration. In his explanatory note, he emphasizes that judicial independence is also linked to guarantees of financial security, and that the arguments underpinning the overall reform of the long-service pension system cannot be directly applied to judges’ pensions.
As the President’s Adviser on Communication, Mārtiņš Drēģeris, informed the LETA news agency, the President points out that, compared with the currently applicable Law on Judges’ Long-Service Pensions, the new law introduces several changes concerning judges. Specifically, it increases the required length of service for receiving a special pension—currently a long-service pension—from 20 to 25 years. The law also revises the calculation of the special pension, stipulating that it will henceforth be calculated based on remuneration received during a 120-month period ending two months prior to dismissal. Furthermore, the law provides for limiting the amount of the special pension by reducing by 5% both the minimum and maximum amounts, as well as the pension granted to a judge who is dismissed due to health reasons.
In a letter to the Speaker of the Saeima, Daiga Mieriņa (Union of Greens and Farmers), the President draws attention to the fact that both the purpose of the law and its explanatory memorandum rightly emphasize the principle of an independent judiciary enshrined in the Constitution (Satversme) and the guarantees of individual judicial independence.
The President stresses that in today’s geopolitical circumstances—when the preservation of a democratic state governed by the rule of law is particularly important—any conscious or unconscious weakening of the guarantees of judicial and judges’ independence is unacceptable. He notes that an independent judiciary is critically important to prevent the misuse of legal norms and to avert any attempts directed against the Latvian state.
A self-defending democracy is not possible without an independent judiciary, the President states.
“Therefore, guarantees of judicial independence are not and must not be an end in themselves. Ensuring these guarantees is a constitutional duty of the state, derived from the Satversme, so that the judiciary can secure and protect the rights and legitimate interests of individuals in disputes, including those against the state itself,” the President’s letter emphasizes.
Rinkēvičs notes that the Constitutional Court has sufficiently and precisely defined the principle of judicial independence in its case law, stating that judicial independence is linked to several guarantees, including security of tenure, institutional independence and independence from political influence, as well as guarantees of financial security.
“Thus, the constitutionally granted guarantees of independence afforded individually to judges mean that the issue of judges’ social guarantees—special pensions—is fundamentally different from the regulation of other pensions. The arguments justifying the overall reform of the state-provided long-service pension system cannot be directly applied to justify reform of the judges’ pension system,” the President writes.
The President underlines that the legislative materials and the parliamentary process must provide assurance that the legislator has duly taken into account this special distinction and that the decision to reform the judges’ pension system has been made with full awareness of its connection to judicial independence.
“For this reason, the opinion expressed in the letter of the Judicial Council cannot be disregarded,
namely that there is currently no confirmation that the authors of the changes to the judges’ pension system were guided by the principle of separation of powers, respecting judicial independence and the financial security guarantees enshrined in the Satversme, or by objective data regarding the fiscal benefits of the proposed changes,” the President states.
At the same time, Rinkēvičs positively assesses the Saeima’s decision to consider the law in three readings rather than under an urgent procedure, thus allowing additional time for hearing opinions on the bill.
“Particularly commendable are the proposals submitted by the Minister of Justice and supported by the Saeima prior to the second reading of the bill, aimed at ensuring a more optimal balance between the state’s responsible approach to long-term financial commitments and the guarantees arising from the principle of judicial independence,” the letter states.
While supporting the need to establish a regulation of social guarantees that complies with the standard of judicial independence and to address the risks identified in the long-service pension system in a responsible manner,
the President calls on the Saeima to re-examine the Law on Special Pensions for Judges and Prosecutors
adopted on the 12th of February, 2026, in order to ensure that the proposed regulation of judges’ special pensions complies with the constitutional guarantees of judicial and judges’ independence.
He also asks the Saeima to consider supplementing the law with a transitional provision instructing the Cabinet of Ministers and the Judicial Council, by the 1st of March, 2030, to evaluate the impact of the new legal framework for judges’ special pensions on judicial human resources, including possible trends in judges leaving office in connection with changes to the state-guaranteed financial framework. He further requests that the Saeima be informed of the results of this evaluation to ensure that its application does not create direct or indirect risks to the guarantees of judicial and judges’ independence.
As previously reported, on the 12th of February the Saeima adopted the special pensions law for judges and prosecutors in its third reading.
The changes were developed as part of a reform of the existing long-service pension system,
which will no longer apply to judges and prosecutors. In order to strengthen the independence of judges and prosecutors by ensuring their right to adequate material security after leaving office, the new law establishes the procedure for granting, calculating and paying special pensions to judges and prosecutors.
The changes will not affect current recipients of long-service pensions. The new regulation will apply in full to officials who begin serving as judges, prosecutors or the Ombudsman from 1 January 2027 and who have served less than 15 years in those positions, as well as to persons who will be appointed to these offices in the future.
To qualify for a special pension, a person must have at least 25 years of service, of which the last ten years must have been served as a judge, prosecutor or Ombudsman, and must have reached the statutory retirement age. A special pension may also be granted to a person dismissed for health reasons, provided that they have at least 25 years of service, including at least the last three years served in one of the above-mentioned positions. Currently, judges may retire on a long-service pension at the age of 65 and prosecutors at the age of 50, provided that they have at least 20 years of service, including ten years in the relevant position.
The minimum retirement age for prosecutors’ long-service pensions is planned to be gradually increased
by a total of 15 years to align it with the current retirement age for judges’ long-service pensions—65 years. This condition will apply to those prosecutors who, by the end of next year, will have more than ten but no more than 15 years of long-service experience.
By increasing the retirement age and required length of service, individuals will remain in the labour market longer, receive salaries and pay social insurance contributions for a longer period, as stated in the explanatory memorandum.
The Law on Special Pensions for Judges and Prosecutors is set to enter into force on the 1st of January, 2027.
Previously, the State Chancellery indicated that without reform of the long-service pension system, annual expenditure on such pensions would reach approximately 1 billion euros by around 2050 and nearly 1.7 billion euros by 2060.
Within the package of accompanying draft laws for next year’s state budget, the Saeima has already adopted amendments to several laws reforming the long-service pension system.
The State Chancellery proposed that, as of 2027, all professions not associated with regular risks to health and life be excluded from the long-service pension scheme, while not affecting those currently employed in long-service professions, who, however, will face higher requirements regarding length of service and potentially adjusted pension amounts.
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