Italy's appeals courts will be "brought to their knees" by the government's transfer of migrant detention validation from the immigration section of the Rome tribunal to appeals courts after legal hurdles have so far stymied the government's flagship Albania policy, according to the judiciary's union, the National Association of Magistrates (ANM).
The Italian government is moving forward with plans to transfer responsibility for validating migrant detention requests from the immigration section of the Rome tribunal to appeals courts.
This shift has been formalized through a November 20 amendment to the immigration flow decree, approved by the Constitutional Affairs Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.
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'Too much work and not enough staff, NRRP targets at risk'
The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from the National Association of Magistrates (ANM) and judicial leaders. The ANM warned that appeals courts, expected to handle over 30,000 cases annually under the new system, would be "overwhelmed" and unable to process cases within the mandated short timeframes. The heads of the appeals courts have expressed similar concerns, with a letter to President Sergio Mattarella describing the situation as a "disaster foretold".
Milan appeals court chief Giuseppe Ondei has said that, if the courts were to be tasked with the validation of migrant detention, National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) targets would be at risk since the judicial bodies would be burdened with more work without a corresponding increase in staff and resources.
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'Move increases tension between judiciary and political sphere'
The judge added that "this would lead to an increase in the time needed for other cases to be ruled on" and create additional problems.
Italian legal experts claim that the transfer of competence "leaves on the floor the not insignificant issue of the organization of the offices that will be burdened with a number of cases that would affect the overall efficiency".
Union of Criminal Chambers president Francesco Petrelli said that he was "concerned" about the latest interventions, which "not only do not actually help to solve the complex problems of jurisdiction on the issue of migrants and safe", but also "could contribute instead to fostering tensions between the judiciary and the political sphere, which at this time should be avoided by both sides in view of the important reforms that this country's judicial system is awaiting."
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