Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said Tuesday that he took responsibility for the defeat of the ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum on the government’s reform of the justice system, while warning that the ‘No’ camp’s victory will strengthen the ability of magistrates’ union ANM to influence the political sphere.
“This is reform bears my name, so I assume political responsibility for it,” Nordio, a former magistrate himself, told Sky Tg24.
“If there were any flaws in communication or in approach, they were my fault too. Unfortunately, the associated, unionized judiciary will now intervene with strong political pressure. It’s a victory for the ANM, let’s be clear. This will give the ANM increased bargaining power, which the Left will also have to reckon with, because, sooner or later, they too will be in government. Furthermore, there will be internal disputes within the coalition over who claims the victory. And they will have to contend with the ANM, the real winner, becoming an anomalous political entity, opposing governments”.
The Constitutional reform, for which Premier Giorgia Meloni campaigned strongly, was defeated by about 53.25% to 46.75% amid a record turnout of 59%.
The reform would have separated the career paths of judges and prosecutors so they could no longer swap between the roles, created a high court to discipline members of the judiciary, split the judiciary’s self-governing body, the CSM, into two and changed the way CSM justices were elected, using a draw process.
Meloni’s executive had said it was necessary to split prosecutors and judges into two separate professional groups as having them part of the same body creates the risk of them having cosy relations, which could mean defendants do not get a fair trial.
It also argued that it was necessary to make magistrates accountable for their errors, ending what Meloni has termed almost absolute impunity for judicial mistakes.
Furthermore, it said the reform reduced the influence of politicised factions within the judiciary, the left-wing one of which late ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi maintained deliberately targets the centre right.
The ANM and the opposition parties were staunchly against the reform, saying it would weaken the judiciary while doing nothing to speed Italy’s snail-paced justice system and could be a step towards placing prosecutors under government control.
