Italy’s government: finally a compromise on judicial reform

After decades of discussion, the judiciary in Italy should actually be reformed. The aim is to speed up legal proceedings, which often take years. The deal was also about a lot of money.

Italy’s Justice Minister Marta Cartabia appears visibly relaxed before the press: All those involved in the coalition had approved the reform, it was unanimously adopted. “The coalition parties have promised to withdraw their amendments to the law. This will allow the work of parliament to move forward quickly and this very important chapter to be completed before the summer break next week.”

For decades Italy has been tinkering with reforming the judicial system. Biggest Evil: The legal proceedings drag on. In principle, each procedure can go through three instances, the court of cassation in Rome is the end. The appeal procedures in the second instance in particular take an immensely long time; the differences in the individual regions are considerable. The duration of civil and criminal proceedings is many times longer than the European average. This wears down citizens and harms the economy, because neither companies nor investors can rely on a reliable judiciary.

The pressure was high

The individual parties wanted to push their views through to the end, and even the strongest force in parliament, the Five Star Party, had tabled dozens of amendments. But the pressure was too great, said ex-prime minister and recently chairman of the five stars, Giuseppe Conte: “It is not our reform, but we have worked constructively to make it better Mafia and terrorism processes cannot give in. ”

When it comes to organized crime – such as the Mafia, sexual violence or terrorism – the judges can request an extension. Otherwise, the processes should take a maximum of three years in the second instance and one and a half years in the third. After these limitation periods, the proceedings will be discontinued. There is no statute of limitations when it comes to life imprisonment, such as murder.

EU threats

The right-wing Lega under Matteo Salvini also signaled willingness to compromise shortly before the agreement was reached: “I hope that everyone understands that Italy needs reforms.” Of course you have to approach each other. “We too sometimes agree to projects that we do not share one hundred percent. On the other hand, we are in an emergency situation and we have to act accordingly.”

The pressure for a solution was enormous. The EU had demanded that the duration of civil trials be reduced by at least 40 percent and criminal trials by 25 percent. Otherwise she threatened to suspend the billions of dollars from the reconstruction program. For Italy that would be a disaster in view of the severe slump as a result of the corona pandemic and the longstanding structural problems.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi in particular pushed the pace, he brought the question of confidence into the discussion, a break in the governing coalition was in the room. Now the judiciary is to get more staff in order to quickly reduce the process backlog. And it should become more modern, i.e. more digital.