The judiciary's self-governing body,
the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM), is not working as it
should, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told a congress at the
Lower House on Tuesday. Nordio has designed a Constitutional
reform bill to separate the career paths of judges and
prosecutors and to overhaul the way CSM members are elected,
which is currently being examined by Parliament.
The justice minister said an "incapable judge who does not keep
up to date must be penalised in his career.
"So I wonder: how is it possible that 99.99% of the judgments
expressed by magistrates on other magistrates are excellent and
then something else is discovered? The CSM is not working as it
should, otherwise we would not have such discrepancies", he
claimed.
"We all know there are factions", he said, alleging magistrates
"protect one another" within the self-governing body.
The reform is aimed at separating the career paths of
prosecutors and judges so members of the judiciary can no longer
switch between the two roles.
The Constitutional reform bill - which has received the first of
at least four necessary parliamentary votes for its approval -
also creates a high court to discipline members of the judiciary
and changes the make-up of the judiciary's self-governing body,
using a draw process.
Nordio also told the congress of the centrist Noi Moderati party
in the ruling coalition on Tuesday that the "reform is
untouchable because it has already been approved by one branch
of Parliament".
He said that he hoped it would be voted in a referendum after a
"serene debate, without slogans and that anyone who will lose
will not be humiliated, either magistrates or politicians".
The magistrates' union ANM organized a nationwide strike last
month against the reform which it says is aimed at placing
prosecutors under the executive's control, a claim rejected by
Nordio.
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