“This is a malicious and insidious attack on the autonomy and independence of each judge.”

Alessia Peretti;EURACTIV.it; 23. October 2024; Euractiv is part of the Trust Project; Photo: As the government pushes back against court rulings, concerns about political interference and threats to the independence of the judiciary are growing, raising alarm both in Italy and internationally. [EPA-EFE/DONATO FASANO]

Tensions between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government and the judiciary over the Italy-Albania migration agreement have reached a new peak, with the Council of Europe’s racism watchdog condemning the government’s behaviour for undermining the judiciary.

As the government pushes back against court rulings, concerns about political interference and threats to the independence of the judiciary are growing, raising alarm both in Italy and internationally.

This conflict has escalated significantly this week and seems to have reached a peak, Angela Arbore, a member of the Central Executive Council of the Italian National Magistrates’ Association (ANM), pointed out.

“These are battles we do not wish to be involved in,” Arbore told Euractiv.

Arbore described the situation as “not just a threat to the judiciary, but to society as a whole, ” the pressure on judges is increasing as the government raises the stakes in this ongoing battle.

The clash follows a recent ruling by a Rome court, which cited a European Court of Justice ruling that annulled the deportation of 12 asylum-seekers under the new Italy-Albania model.

The court’s decision drew sharp criticism from the government, which accused parts of the judiciary of being “biased” and “obstructing” its policies.

Arbore clarified that judges “cannot be asked, as some government officials have suggested, to cooperate with the executive branch.”

“We do not take directives from political powers; we apply the law. To act otherwise would betray our oath to the Constitution,” Arbore added.

The government responded to the ruling with a last-minute decree on Monday, hoping to circumvent the recent ruling by the Rome court and the EU Court of Justice, which had challenged its migration outsourcing model with Albania.

However, according to Stefano Musolino, deputy public prosecutor of Reggio Calabria and national secretary of the Magistratura Democratica, an association part of the ANM, the decree has not resolved the core issue.

Speaking to Euractiv, Musolino stressed that while the government can pass new national laws, “there is always another law – European law – that is supranational and takes precedence over national legislation”.

On Tuesday, ECRI, the Council of Europe’s monitoring body on racism, condemned “undue criticism aimed at undermining the authority of individual judges deciding on migration cases” in Italy, warning that the judiciary’s independence is being threatened.

In its report, ECRI urged authorities to “respect, protect, and promote the independence and impartiality of judges handling migration cases”.

Musolino also highlighted the difficult position migration judges find themselves in today.

“Imagine the kind of serenity a migration judge must have when making decisions, caught between the obligation to apply European law and the government’s push for rulings that align with its objectives, regardless of their compatibility with European regulations,” he said.

He warned that the Italian government envisages an institutional relationship between politics and the judiciary “more akin to the illiberal democracies of Hungary than to those of a modern state”.

At the heart of the conflict is the judge, who is being asked “to essentially deny their role and serve the political objectives of the government on migration matters”.

He went on to say that “with symbolic laws” such as the decree passed on Monday, which he believes won’t solve the problem, “it’s the judges who are left exposed”, as they are the ones who ultimately face the consequences of their decisions.

“This has been the case so far,” said Musolino, pointing out that immigration judges who have ruled in ways that do not match the government’s preferences have faced intense media scrutiny.

“This is a malicious and insidious attack on the autonomy and independence of each judge,” Musolino added.

(Alessia Peretti | Euractiv.it)