On November 20, the judiciary's self-governing body, the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM), approved by a wide majority a resolution to safeguard the judges in Bologna who referred a new decree listing safe countries for repatriation to the European Court of Justice. This decision followed a controversy with the government over rulings related to migrant flows.
On Wednesday, November 20, the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM) approved, by a wide majority, a resolution to safeguard the judges in Bologna who referred a new decree listing safe countries for repatriation to the European Court of Justice.
While the safeguard procedure has no legal effect, it represents an official stance by the CSM, condemning the harsh reaction of leading government figures toward the magistrates who made the decision.
It is the first safeguard procedure approved over the past 15 years during a plenary session of the self-governing body.
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House Commission OKs amendment on appeals courts
Meanwhile the Lower House's constitutional affairs commission on November 20 voted to amend a decree on migrant flows, shifting the responsibility for validating or extending the detention of asylum seekers from special immigration units of tribunals to appeals courts.
Under the change, single judges would rule on such cases rather than a three-member court, as always occurs in appeals courts.
However, the immigration units of tribunals will still oversee appeals filed by migrants who do not meet the requirements for special protection status.
The change was proposed after the decision by courts, including the one in Bologna, to refer a new decree listing safe countries for repatriation to the European Court of Justice, which were slammed by leading government members.
In particular, the impartiality of the president of the immigration section of the Bologna tribunal, Marco Gattuso, was questioned by some reports.
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Resolution voted by majority condemned government's reactions
The resolution was approved with 25 votes in favor -- all magistrate members of the CSM, including members of the conservative Magistratura Indipendente faction -- and five against, including the CSM's lay members representing parties in the ruling coalition, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI), Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini's League and Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani's Forza Italia (FI).
The deputy president of CSM Fabio Pinelli did not participate in the vote and nobody abstained, although lay councillor Rosanna Natoli could not vote as she is currently suspended.
According to the first Commission of the CSM, which first voted the safeguard measure, the Bologna judges' decision was subjected to "harsh statements by leading representatives of institutions" which "were not linked to the juridical issues" outlined in the decision, hinting instead at an "absence of impartiality" of the judges without any "objective evidence".
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Primacy of EU law over Italian legislation
Last month, Bologna judges referred a government measure defining a list of 19 safe countries for repatriation, including Bangladesh, to the EU Court of Justice. They sought clarification on whether the principle of EU law primacy should prevail in cases where it conflicts with Italian legislation, following an appeal by an asylum seeker from Bangladesh.
The government measure listing 19 countries, including Bangladesh, as safe, said Italian courts cannot rule against it on the basis of an October 4 European Court of Justice sentence that motivated another decision by Rome judges to nix the detention of a group of migrants at a new Italian-run center in Albania last month.
The move sparked accusations, including from members of Premier Giorgia Meloni's government, that the judiciary was encroaching on the political realm.
One of the votes against the procedure came from League representative Isabella Bertolini who, together with colleague Claudia Eccher, had requested the opening of a practice against the leader of the left-wing Magistratura Democratica faction in judiciary's union National Association of Magistrates (ANM), Stefano Musloni, for allegedly anti-government statements.
"It is necessary to accept criticism. Magistrates must not become part of the game, their role is to apply the law, without useless protagonism", said Bertolini.
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