Meloni v the judges: high stakes for Italian PM in vote on judiciary overhaul | Italy

IAs Italy’s referendum on the government’s attempt to overhaul the judiciary approaches, a campaign brochure Quotes from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni targeting judges and feminists circulated online. The message read, “Judges are blocking the deportation of rapists. Where are the feminists? Vote yes, there will be no other opportunity.”

The ad, which was published on the Facebook page of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, was later removed. But his tone defined a campaign dominated by inflammatory rhetoric rather than meaningful debate.

At a demonstration against the proposals, Rome’s Chiara Antonini said: “It is a shame that Meloni uses such threatening language and interferes with sensitive issues such as the protection of women, especially considering the hypocrisy that has emerged after the government backed away from a law that would have defined sexual intercourse without consent as rape. The government appears to have taken this to court.”

In power for more than three years, Meloni leads one of the most stable governments in the history of the Italian republic and polishes his image abroad. Now he is putting his hard-won credibility to the test with high-stakes referendums on Sunday and Monday.

Voters in Italy will vote yes or no on approving changes to the country’s post-fascist constitution that would shake up the organization of the justice system. But what was essentially a vote for a technical and complex amendment has turned into a de facto vote of confidence in the Meloni government ahead of general elections in 2027.

Mattia Diletti, professor of politics at Sapienza University in Rome, said: “This has become a political referendum and a matter of power for him. This is essentially a choice between Giorgia Meloni and the judges.”

The victory of the Yes campaign will lead to changes in the way judges and prosecutors are recruited and managed, including the separation of career paths, the establishment of two lottery-selected management councils and the creation of a tribunal to deal with disciplinary matters.

Meloni says the changes are important for impartiality, especially in weeding out what he calls the left-wing political “factions” that dominate the judiciary. Opponents argue they would weaken the power and independence of judges and prosecutors, making them more vulnerable to government control, similar to Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.

Opinion polls conducted before the blackout period began pointed to a close race in which the no camp, supported by a significant portion of the opposition, gained an advantage as the debate intensified.

At the end of the campaign, Meloni stepped up his message, accusing judges of undermining his policies to fight crime and irregular immigration. He said rejecting the changes would put public safety at risk because it would mean “releasing more immigrants, rapists, pedophiles and drug dealers.” Speech at a theater in Milan If the vote fails, he said last week, “we will find ourselves facing even more negligent judges and even more surreal sentences.”

Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio drew a strong reaction by referring to the Supreme Council of the Judiciary as a “money-mafia system”. Chief of General Staff Giusi Bartolozzi compared the judiciary to a “firing squad” that must be eliminated.

Justice has long been a thorny issue in Italy, where the specter of the late former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faces dozens of criminal trials, comes to the fore. Forza Italia, the party founded by Berlusconi, is a partner in Meloni’s ruling coalition. Marina BerlusconiHis daughter said: “It won’t just be my dad who wins for Yes [victory].”

However, criminal lawyer Luigi Li Gotti believes that the aim is to deal a particularly heavy blow to prosecutors. Berlusconi depicted Being seen as a “cancer of our democracy” could make them less willing to investigate high-profile corruption cases and organized crime.

Li Gotti, who served as undersecretary of justice in Romano Prodi’s centre-left government, was the target of Meloni’s criticism last year for filing a legal complaint against him after Italy released and repatriated a Libyan general wanted by the international criminal court for alleged war crimes.

He said the government wanted to change the constitution to “weaken prosecutors and indirectly influence investigations.” Meloni claimed the changes would make Italy’s notoriously slow justice system more efficient. “But the goal has nothing to do with improving efficiency,” Li Gotti said.

Antonella Attardo, a civil judge in Milan, said behind the political criticism was an important vote on important changes “that none of our voters had any idea about.”

“It’s more about the fear, what will happen next,” he said, referring to a legislative amendment discussed by Antonio Tajani. Italian deputy prime ministerThis would make police forces more accountable to relevant ministries and weaken prosecutors’ authority to coordinate the investigation.

“This means that the executive branch will decide which investigations will be conducted and how,” Attardo said. “Fear, corruption, or the silencing of investigations into those close to political or economic power.”

Micol Parati, a lawyer from Crema, Lombardy, who attended a demonstration in Rome to support the proposals, said: “It is not written anywhere that if the referendum wins, the judiciary will be the slave of the executive.”

Li Gotti expressed concern that Meloni’s success would strengthen his resolve to advance other controversial constitutional changes, such as the direct election of the prime minister.

Meloni’s top ranking in popularity polls is unusual for Italian leaders to remain at the helm for so long. If the referendum goes his way give priority to election law This could give his coalition a comfortable victory in next year’s general election.

“It would be sad if he loses because it would be much more difficult to prepare for the elections,” Diletti said.

In the days before the vote, Meloni turned to an irreverent podcast hosted by a rapper in an attempt to woo young voters. “The vote is not about Meloni, it’s about justice,” he said.

Matteo Bruno, a graduate student in Rome, was not convinced. “I’m going home to Catania specifically to vote because this is a constitutional reform that could have important consequences for the future of our democracy,” he said.