Referendum, Schlein's lunge: 'Reform does not improve the justice system'
At the presentation of the Civil Society Committee for the No vote in the constitutional referendum on justice, opposition leaders return to attack the reform promoted by the government
Key points
The day after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's press conference at the start of the year, which reignited the clash between politics and the judiciary, the controversy surrounding the referendum campaign, which will be held on 22 and 23 March, as confirmed by the Prime Minister herself, has not died down. Reigniting the confrontation is the presentation of the Civil Society Committee for the No to the constitutional referendum on justice, led by Giovanni Bachelet, which saw opposition leaders parading on stage, starting with the secretary of the PD, Elly Schlein.
Pd secretary: reform does not improve justice in this country
For the Dem number one "it is not a justice reform because it does not improve in any way the efficiency of this country's justice system. It is a reform that will not speed up trials, it will not hire the staff that is lacking, it will not stabilise the 12,000 precarious justice workers who risk being left at home in June," and "it will unfortunately not affect the overcrowding conditions in our country's prisons, which have reached a rate of 138.5 per cent, with a record rate of suicides among both prisoners and prison guards.
Schlein against Nordio: we will win the next election but we would like to be controlled
From the stage of the event, the PD secretary did not even spare a jab at the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio. "I want to respond from here to the minister who said 'I don't understand why Schlein doesn't understand whether the justice reform serves them'" I respond to him from here by saying: no, we don't want it to serve us. We will win the next election and we don't want a reform that allows us to control the judiciary but we want to be controlled. That is how a democracy works'.
Count's position
An equally harsh lunge against the reform came from M5S leader Giuseppe Conte. "The M5S has fought from the beginning against this reform, which is part of a broader plan. There is an objective that is not new to the right: to upset the balance of power. If you also have a popular investiture you cannot do whatever you want, you have to respect the law, which is the same for everyone, and indeed those who hold public office have an even greater responsibility'.
Landini's lunge: authoritarian management by this government
Very clear-cut tones, then, were also chosen by the CGIL secretary, Maurizio Landini, 'the authoritarian management of this government is evident', but 'I believe that this government the majority of this country does not represent it and the problem we have is that the majority of this country does not feel represented by anyone'. Therefore, he added, 'we must make it clear that we want to be part of the country that wants to build another social model'. It should make everyone reflect, Landini further explained, 'how this government has chosen to take us, if you like from a certain point of view, even to hold a referendum that no one had asked it to do in order to change justice in this way,' he said, 'and among other things it has done so by confirming an authoritarian will, and I take responsibility for what I am saying, because an authoritarian will and management of the government is already in place in this country.
