The Italian Criminal Lawyers Association defended Bologna judges who referred a new government measure, defining a list of safe countries for repatriation, to the European Court of Justice. This referral sparked accusations of judicial overreach into politics.
“The Court of Bologna moved with particular prudence by placing its requests within the correct supranational and national normative and jurisprudential parameters,” said the association’s president, Francesco Petrelli.
“It is frankly impossible to see the choice of a preliminary interlocution with the Court of Justice as an attack on politics.”
The Bologna court requested clarification on the safety parameters for listed countries and whether EU law should take precedence if it conflicts with Italian legislation. This query was part of an appeal by a Bangladeshi asylum seeker.
The government decree lists 19 safe countries, including Bangladesh, and restricts Italian courts from ruling against it based on a recent European Court of Justice ruling. This decision led Rome judges last month to reject the detention of migrants at a new Italy-run centre in Albania.
Climate of unease
On Friday, Giuseppe Santalucia, president of the ANM magistrates’ union, said the Italian judiciary is struggling to work “with serenity”. This is due to accusations from ruling coalition members that some court decisions are politically motivated. Santalucia criticised Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, who condemned the Bologna court’s referral.
“On Monday, I will be in Bologna for an extraordinary assembly, which testifies to the climate of unease about this way of doing politics, about the media close to the current governing majority, which stops magistrates from working in serenity,” Santalucia told La7 television.
“You cannot do anything without getting labelled afterwards as being politicised magistrates.
“You make a decision that is not liked, and you become a ‘Red’.
“This is unacceptable.
“I ask Minister Salvini what is inappropriate about a measure that asks the EU Court of Justice for a ruling on compliance.”
