Government-Giudici clash, Stefano Feltri: “The authoritarian turning point is accomplished where the judicial power is submitted to the political one”

This article on the tension between government and judges is published in the number 7 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until 11 February 2025.

To see the constant controversy between Meloni and judges governmentmany wonder why state powers cannot work in harmony. They should not all have the same thing at heart, that is, how would the Prime Minister, the interest of the nation? The tension between executive power and judicial power is remarkable in many countries.

In Italy the Meloni government wants to make one justice reform To separate the careers of judges and public ministries and create Two higher tips with drawn members. Supporters say that we will have more independent judges. Critics say it is a way to increase the government control over magistrates. Premier uses very different events to argue that The judges have it with her which instead was elected to govern: the investigation into the tourism minister Daniela Santanchèthe blocking of the detention of migrants in the centers in Albaniathe investigation of the Rome Prosecutor’s Office (which actually passed everything to the Court of Ministers) for the repatriation of the Libyan General Osama Almasri Njeem chased by the International Criminal Court.

In France, politics is hung on the fate of Marine Le Penthe far -right leader who risks being condemned for abuse on reimbursements and party accounts and skipping the presidential elections of 2027. In Spain the premier Pedro Sánchez He has his wife accused of corruption, in Portugal the premier António Costa We had to resign due to an error of homonymy of the magistrates in an investigation for bribes (today he leads the European Council).

In the United States the condemnation of Donald Trump For the irregularities in payments to the pornstar with which he had had a story they transformed him, in the eyes of the voters, into the victim of a conspiracy the system. Trump compacted party and financiers, he regained the White House and now – as president – came out unscathed from the trial on the assault on Parliament of 2021 And his revenge begins. Trump wants to turn the Department of Justice, fill it with loyalists and accuse his political enemies under accusation.

In the era of strong men (or women) in command, it seems to falter The principle on which liberal democracies hold: The separation of powers according to which Parliament makes the laws, the government puts them into practice, the judges opposite the disputes. Today the governments, indeed, the leaders of the governments, they want to do the laws without undergoing youand demand that the magistrates adapt. Even many citizens, judging by the polls, are annoyed when the laws and their guarantees slow down governments.

Democracy, however, has as its crucial characteristic that of being tiring, grueling, because it is looking for the compromise between the will of the majority and the rights of minorities. The tension between magistrates and governments is disturbing, but in the countries where harmony reigns that it means that The authoritarian turning point is accomplishedand that the judicial power is submitted to the political one. This is the case of the Hungary of Viktor OrbánPoland went in that direction to the 2023 elections. Better a healthy tension between powers than one’s victory over others.

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Source: Vanity Fair

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