Isabelle Bayon

🇮🇹 MELONI TAKES ON ITALY’S JUDGES—JUSTICE SYSTEM SHAKE-UP PM Giorgia Meloni is pushing a historic reform to split judges from prosecutors, arguing it will speed up trials and make the system more impartial. Italy’s courts are among the slowest in Europe, with cases taking four times longer than the EU average. For decades, judges and prosecutors have operated as an untouchable political force, resisting accountability. Meloni: “Basically, they want to govern themselves. There’s a problem. If I make a mistake, the Italians can vote me out of office. If they make a mistake, no one can say or do anything. No power in a democratic state works like that.” The judiciary is pushing back, calling a one-day strike on Feb. 27 and claiming the reform would strip prosecutors of independence. A Naples prosecutor warned: “The separation of careers will turn the public prosecutor into a super-police officer, and they will lose the culture of impartiality.” Meanwhile, courts have blocked Meloni’s migrant plan and even opened an investigation into her cabinet, fueling concerns that some judges are protecting their own power rather than applying the law. The bill has passed the lower house and now moves to the Senate. If approved, it heads to a public referendum, where Meloni—more popular now than in 2022—may finally fix a system former PM Berlusconi couldn’t. Source: Reuters