Photo: Collected
Judges in Italy are up in arms against a judicial overhaul adopted by the hard-right government of Giorgia Meloni, some calling it a "damaging" politically motivated move to weaken prosecutors.
Adopted by the government's council of ministers Wednesday (29 May), less than two weeks before European Parliament elections, the reform has provoked alarm among judges and prosecutors, who belong to the same body and who have said a strike is being contemplated.
The reform envisions the complete separation of the training, careers and status of judges and prosecutors, who right-leaning governments in Italy in particular those of three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi have long accused of colluding to the detriment of the defence.
"It is a reform that does not affect the actual needs of justice but expresses the clear intention to implement a control over the judiciary by politics," the National Association of Magistrates (ANM) said.
"The alarming aspects of the draft bill are manifold, we read (in it) an ambiguous reform that creates a disarming picture," said the body, saying it gives "more power to the political majority of the day".
Coalition member Forza Italia, the party founded by Berlusconi, led the reform effort.
A billionaire business tycoon, Berlusconi was the subject of numerous court battles and investigations during his decades-long political career starting in the 1990s, and constantly denounced the "dictatorship of the left-wing judges".
He was convicted of tax fraud in 2012, and died last year.
The current leader of Forza Italia, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, hailed the judicial reform Wednesday as "the crowning achievement of Silvio Berlusconi's dream".
Meloni herself welcomed the text, denying any "vendetta" against the judiciary.
But for the opposition Democratic Party (PD), the changes envisioned by the government represent "a serious blow to the autonomy and independence of magistrates".
Messenger/Mumu
