Nordio decree: House approves article 1, away with abuse of office

Final yes to the abolition of abuse of office. The Chamber of Deputies has approved with 170 votes in favour and 77 against Article 1 of the Nordio bill with the criminal law provisions that effectively repeal Article 323 of the code regulating the most classic of offences with which public administrators, especially local ones, were hitherto charged. The final vote on the entire measure is expected on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, with the go-ahead for the cancellation of abuse of office, one of the measures that most characterised this first phase of the Meloni government's justice policies comes to an end. Strongly desired by the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio, the repeal was considered the best solution with respect to possible adjustments, the last one under the Conte II government in the summer of 2020 had already dried up the area of criminal relevance in a very significant way.

The data enhanced by the supporters of cancellation report, for example, in 2021, 5418 open proceedings from which 9 sentences of conviction, 35 plea bargains, 72 acquittals, 28 not to proceed due to prescription, 148 decrees of dismissal due to prescription, 370 that ordered the trial and 4465 pronouncements that sanctioned the immediate end. So much effort for nothing, then, for an offence that especially puts local administrators in check by inhibiting their decision-making faculties, the now proverbial 'fear of signing'.

And yet on the part of those who have opposed it, there are other numbers that make their case. The 3,623 final convicts who are entered in the criminal record will, once the law is published in the 'Gazette', have the right to have their convictions cancelled, for example. But then the more than 4,000 complaints each year also testify to the many cases in which ordinary citizens feel they are being abused by the public administration, cases that will now remain without criminal protection.

Central then, for those who contest the choice of the government and majority, is the international datum. Just over a year ago, in fact, the European Commission presented the new draft anti-corruption directive that expressly provides for the preservation of a criminal offence to punish the performance or omission of an act, in violation of the law, by a public official when he has obtained an undue advantage. Nordio, however, announced a few days ago at the meeting of EU Justice Ministers that he had found a mediation that recognises that Italy, even in the absence of abuse of office, has an extensive arsenal of measures to combat crimes against the public administration.