House Votes in Favour of Judicial Career Paths’ Separation

Rome: The Lower House on Thursday gave the first green light to a bill to separate the career paths of prosecutors and judges, so they can no longer switch between the two roles, with 174 votes in favour, 92 against and five abstentions.

According to Ansa News Agency, the vote is the first parliamentary passage necessary for the approval of the Constitutional reform bill that also creates a high court to discipline members of the judiciary and changes the make-up of the judiciary’s self-governing body, the CSM, overhauling the way CSM justices are elected, using a draw process.

Meanwhile, members of the left-wing Magistratura Democratica (MD) faction in the judiciary’s union, the National Council of Magistrates (ANM), have announced a protest against the constitutional reform bill during upcoming ceremonies to inaugurate the judicial year. In particular, MD candidates running for the ANM’s central directive committee in upcoming elections to be held on January 26-28 have proposed to abandon ceremonies at appeals courts across the country to inaugurate the judicial year, scheduled on January 24-26, as a “visible and determined sign in defence of the Constitution”.

“Magistrates, wearing their robes and holding a copy of the Constitution, will abandon” ceremonies “in a composed way” when the representative of the justice minister speaks, according to a statement issued by MD’s candidates. National Association of Magistrates (ANM) President Giuseppe Santalucia has said that the Constitutional reform bill would put a strain on the Constitution, announcing that ANM will strive to inform the public about its potential impact in the event of a referendum.

ANM has long criticized the Constitutional reform bill, drafted by Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, saying it will weaken the judiciary. Leaving the Lower House on Thursday after the vote, Nordio said that “ANM is a very respectable union, like all other unions”, adding however that it shouldn’t question the government’s motives by claiming the reform is aimed at placing State attorneys under the executive’s control.

“Everyone has the right to express their opinions, even if they disagree. I hope there will be a rational debate” including the “arguments in favour and against” the reform that are explained in a simple manner “and not in argumentative and apodeictic terms”, Nordio went on to say. The minister stressed that he hoped there would be no “judgement of intentions”, citing allegations that the Constitutional reform bill will “sooner or later place prosecutors under the executive, something that has been radically ruled out”.