“In this first package that we presented, we gave a strong signal of reform,” Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told Libero. «Our goal is to fully implement what was the will of Professor Vassalli and realize it completely, that is to say to create an Anglo-Saxon accusatory code. So the structure of the register of suspects and of the guarantee information will also be changed”.
The first step of Nordio’s bill on justice, a dozen articles passed in mid-June by the Council of Ministers, will now have to pass from the signature of the Quirinale before arriving in Parliament, to the Justice Commission. La Stampa reports that the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, having returned from a trip to Chile and Paraguay, has begun to study the text.
Many are now wondering if and when Mattarella will authorize the government to present the text before the Chambers: a question that is justified in the light of the tensions unleashed by the bill canceling the crime of abuse of office, tightening interceptions, the application of precautionary measures is slowed down, the appeal against acquittals of certain crimes is forbidden. In the already fiery climate between the government and the judiciary, the Nordio reform will be further fuel.
In reality, from the Quirinale there is amazement at the attention judged excessive on this passage. The presidential countersignature to bills – they point out – is practically a constitutional obligation, unlike decree-laws, so much so that in 75 years of the Republic it has never been denied. The Head of State could only get in the way if the bill were subversive. In the case of bills, such as the Nordio reform, these are provisional texts and proposals addressed to Parliament which will decide calmly, perhaps not before having rewritten the article. In theory, it could even happen that, along the way, nothing is done with it.
But – asks La Stampa – if signing is almost a duty, why doesn’t Mattarella get rid of it quickly? For what reason does he intend to dedicate the next few days to us? For those who know the rules of the Quirinale, the answer has a lot to do with the Colle’s art of suggesting, advising and sometimes limiting the damage without giving publicity. If problems of constitutionality emerge from the examination of the reform, for example, the president would find a way to point this out to the government. After all, if Mattarella has taken a few days to read carefully, he is ready to delve into the various implications and perhaps talk about them confidentially.
In short, those expecting a stop at the Colle or a tug of war will be disappointed. If anything, Mattarella will try to cool the tensions between politics and the judiciary, favoring the start of the examination of the text in a context of mutual respect.
Last doubt: if Mattarella signs the Nordio reform, will it mean that he agrees with the content? Not at all, the insiders reply. Authorizing Parliament to discuss it does not imply any agreement, for better or for worse.
In the meantime, already at the end of this week, once she returns to Italy from the NATO summit in Vilnius, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could go up to Colle – writes Il Foglio – to inform the Head of State about the decisions of the Atlantic Alliance. A meeting of practices that risks turning, rather than on Ukraine, on the war waged by the government against the judiciary.
