• Prescription, majority meeting with Conte at Palazzo Chigi in progress
  • Bonafede: Renzi isolated on prescription. The reply: "Defended the rule of law"
  • Majority divided over prescription, Renzi criticizes the Democratic Party: "Chasing populism M5s"
  • Prescription, majority majority postponed to 9 January
  • Reform begins, stop the prescription after the first instance sentence. Bonafede: proud

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January 21, 2020 "We have been working on the reform of the criminal trial to speed up the times. All political forces will evaluate the text and make their proposals. There are numerous convergences on measures to shorten the time. There are still some distances on the prescription. For me and for the M5s remains a priority to guarantee the certainty of the sentence and that there are no pockets of impunity. The distinction between acquitted and convicted is not my starting proposal, but I remember that this distinction was already introduced in the last legislature by someone who now raises profiles of unconstitutionality ".

Minister Bonafede said this as soon as he left the majority summit held at Palazzo Chigi.

The majority summit
A new summit was not enough to find agreement on the prescription and reform of the criminal trial. At the government table, in the presence of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Minister Alfonso Bonafede presented his draft reform, which contains 35 articles and provides for a delegation to the government to intervene on various points, from the reform of the criminal trial for the shortening of the time for judgments to a revision of the Superior Council of the judiciary.

The apple of discord
On the issue of limitation, the Bonafede reform implemented the so-called "Conte award": in the draft it is expected that "the suspension of the limitation period pursuant to article 159, paragraph 2, of the penal code is limited to the sentence and conviction decree ". Right on the Conte award, however, the distances are still far away, with Italia Viva reiterating its "no".

Renzi contrary
According to Matteo Renzi, the provision to block the prescription for the condemned "goes against the constitutional principles: guilt is not assessed at first instance, but at the end of the path. Introducing an element of differentiation violates the constitutional principles that say that you are innocent until that the sentence has not been finalized. As prime minister I proposed to lengthen the statute of limitations, but an endless trial is the end of justice and those who do not realize it transform the land of Beccaria into a land of alleged culprits. found a drop point, we'll see. " Italia Viva, however, according to Lucia Annibali's voice, does not exclude an agreement: "If there is the possibility of making improvements, as also emerged at the summit tonight, we will evaluate them".

For the Democratic Party there is no unconstitutionality
For the Democratic Party Renzi is wrong. "We do not think - said Alfredo Bazoli - that the award is unconstitutional, it is an interesting proposal, it can be integrated, but it is a useful starting point". On the whole, Dem Walter Verini points out, it was "a constructive meeting, with a convergence on the reform of the criminal trial" and "steps forward" were made. But it is "a work site still open", underlines Piero Grasso (Leu), "the only categorical imperative is to reduce the process times". The Conte award on prescription, he added, "is still being explored because there are aspects under study". The representatives of the majority will meet again in the coming days. "We continue to work to cut the timing of the criminal trial", assure from Palazzo Chigi.

Costa: "It's a mixed fried"
"The reform of justice proposed by Bonafede is an indigestible" mixed fried "in which rules on the criminal trial, the suspension of the prescription, the rules of the judicial system, the electoral law of the CSM, the discipline on the magistrates in politics coexist. All seasoned with a delegation to the Government, which once the law has been approved (with long deadlines, given the size of the subjects dealt with), will have one year to issue the legislative decrees ". This was stated in a note by Enrico Costa, a deputy from Forza Italia and head of the Justice Department of the Italian movement, who adds: "It will take biblical times for this proposal to become law and in the meantime the new rules on prescription will continue to unfold their effects. proposal practically identical to the one that was approved 'unless understood' by the Conte 1 government, which the Democratic Party criticized briskly. A series of rules that cancel the defense guarantees, leave the decision on which crimes to prosecute and which to let run, to the prosecutors Csm - which has the power to overturn the time foreseen by law - the decision on how long the trials must last, Court by Court, with the paradox that virtuous magistrates will be punished and more bland times granted to snail judges. Confused rules that will determine even longer times and more complex procedures ".

Tuesday votes
Meanwhile, Tuesday in the Chamber, the FI proposal to vote to cancel the Bonafede reform on prescription is being voted on in the Chamber. If Iv votes with the Azzurri, he attacks Nicola Zingaretti, he risks "smashing the majority". But this is precisely the fear of many Dems: that if Bonaccini is defeated, Iv will open the redde rationem, starting from justice. "There is a majority to protect," says Zingaretti from the Porta a porta lounge and therefore invites Renzi not to vote with Italy alive to block the prescription but also Luigi Di Maio not to "make it a flag".