Career separation and premierate, the two reforms in parliament in July: what will change

After the first green light (by the Chamber) to the security decree, the League's flagship majority accelerates on the two constitutional reforms in the pipeline. It does so by advancing in the conference of group leaders the hypothesis of including in the July calendar of the Chamber the separation of the careers of magistrates (strongly sponsored by Forza Italia) and the premierate, the 'mother of all reforms' for Fdi. But on the timetable and the procedure carried out by the majority, there is a clash with the opposition, which accuses the centre-right of going ahead in an 'authoritarian' manner by compressing the prerogatives of Parliament. "We believe it is a forcing," said Dem group leader Chiara Braga, "and we are not willing to accept compression. Evidently after the security decree, the partition among the majority forces has been set in motion again and this is another piece of the design aimed at questioning the balance of our institutions'. The reference to the security decree, which, after the go-ahead in Montecitorio, the majority is intent on approving in the Senate in record time (it will be in the Chamber as early as 3 June), is no coincidence.

The Casellati bill, which in addition to providing for direct elections gives the prime minister the de facto power to determine the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, is not proceeding quickly in parliament: after the first go-ahead of the Senate, it has been at a standstill in the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies since July. The reform is expected to get the final go-ahead in Parliament at the end of the legislature, while the confirmatory referendum will be held after the political elections. At the moment, the hypothesis of combining the premierate with the reform on the separation of the careers of magistrates is ruled out, for which instead a confirmatory popular vote is expected in June 2026.

Not only. The path of the premierate intersects with the process of the law on differentiated autonomy: this was the pact at the beginning of the legislature and the League does not miss an opportunity to remind us of it. Salvini, even at the Lega congress in April, associated Autonomy with the premierate reform: 'They go together, hand in hand'. And on 19 May last, the Council of Ministers approved the delegated law on Autonomy that incorporates the Constitutional Court's indications for the definition of the LEP.

Election 'by universal and direct suffrage' of the premier, who remains in power for five years thanks to an electoral system that 'guarantees' a majority of seats in Parliament and who cannot be re-elected after two consecutive terms. And, above all, that he can only be replaced once in the legislature, and only if he himself decides to hand over, by a Member of Parliament who is part of the coalition that won the elections. Translated: no more technical and wide-ranging governments led by personalities not elected by the citizens (read Mario Monti in 2011 and Mario Draghi in 2021, but also Giuseppe Conte in 2018). Net of the direct election, the most relevant novelty of the Casellati bill is the attribution to the elected premier of the power to dissolve the Chambers, which is the real deterrent power of political crises, aligning him in this with his colleagues in the major EU countries

On the other hand, the draft constitutional law 'Norms on jurisdictional order and the establishment of the Disciplinary Court' amends Title IV of the Constitution with the aim of separating the careers of prosecutors and judges. To this end, two SCMs are envisaged: the Superior Council of the Judicial Magistracy and the Superior Council of the Investigative Magistracy. Further novelties are the members of the SCMs drawn by lot and the establishment of a High Disciplinary Court. The measure got the first green light from the Chamber of Deputies last January and is now in the Senate Commission. The majority's intention is to bring the text to the Chamber on 11 July. In time for its return to the House for a third reading in July.