No Design Against Government, Magistrates’ Union Tells Meloni

Rome: Italian magistrates union ANM responded on Thursday to Premier Giorgia Meloni’s remarks about a supposed “design” in recent court rulings concerning migrants, which she linked to the government’s controversial plans to reform the judiciary by separating the career paths of judges and prosecutors.

According to Ansa News Agency, the ANM’s Central Executive Council issued a statement emphasizing that magistrates are dedicated to their professional duties and do not engage in politics, despite facing insults, intimidation, and a campaign of delegitimization that threatens the foundations of Italy’s democratic state. They asserted that the judiciary will continue to fulfill its constitutional mandate with integrity, rejecting any notion of a design against the executive branch as a misunderstanding of the separation of powers.

The government’s initiative to manage migrant centers in Albania, facilitated by an agreement with Tirana, has encountered legal impediments. Additionally, the court of ministers has requested parliamentary permission to prosecute Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, and Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano for Italy’s earlier release of a Libyan general wanted by the ICC for war crimes. However, given Meloni’s coalition majority in parliament, the progression of this case to trial seems improbable.

In an interview with the daily newspaper Domani, Elly Schlein, leader of the opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD), condemned the insinuations that judges operate with political motivations instead of upholding the law, labeling such suggestions as subversive.