Italy – Impunity for abuse of office and traffic of influence?

This wonderful country must get rid of "il sistema"! Foto: F. Corbetta (Firm) / Wikimedia Commons / PD

(KL) – The brazenness with which the Italian government is attempting to push through impunity for the country’s corrupt members of “il sistema” is unbelievable. The “judicial reform” that Minister Carlo Nordio is striving for does not, of course, benefit ordinary citizens, but those in positions where they can be guilty of abuse of office and traffic of influence – in other words, the members of “il sistema”, i.e. politicians, judges, public prosecutors and captains of industry. What is most astonishing is that no effort is even being made to disguise the objective of this “reform”. Obviously, “il sistema” is coming under increasing pressure and must now do everything in its power to protect itself.

Carlo Nordio’s first attempt to simply wave this “reform” through was met with a powerful headwind. A petition presented by judges and public prosecutors was signed by hundreds of colleagues, constitutional lawyers warned urgently against this change and even the Anti-Mafia Commission spoke out clearly against the Minister of Justice’s plan, which is solely intended to guarantee impunity for Italy’s biggest criminals. Even though Italy’s government is clearly in breach of European law.

“Abuse of power” is a criminal offence which, according to European law, must be included in all national legislations of the EU member states. In this respect, the plan to abolish this criminal offence is not compatible with European law and the idea that Italy, of all countries, could grant impunity and thus a blank cheque to high ranked criminals, is adventurous.

Is it because many of the scandals that have been concealed for a long time have recently been made public? Whether it’s the Palamara/Amaro scandal, the scandals involving European money flowing into the pockets of organized crime, such as the PAC subsidies or in the context of the construction of gas pipelines, or the trial against the Mancuso clan of Cosa Nostra in Calabria – it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide the crimes of “il sistema” from the public. But instead of fighting the machinations of “il sistema”, the government wants to legalize them.

According to the daily newspaper “La Repubblica”, the retention of Carlo Nordio at the head of the Ministry of Justice is linked to the pushing through of this “reform”. It is clear that Nordio is not acting on his own authority, but on the orders of his head of government Georgia Meloni. In this respect, Nordio could become a “pawn”, as his plan would have to be stopped in Brussels according to human judgement. After all, the European legal system does not provide for criminals and their crimes to be legalized because they wear expensive Armani suits.

Nevertheless, there is a certain desperation on the part of “il sistema” in this plan, because this attempt to legalize the crimes of the “top 10,000” and not even to do so secretly, indicates maximum nervousness in the upper echelons of power in Italy.

It remains to be seen whether the long arm of “il sistema” will be enough to influence decisions in Brussels in its favor. Either way, Italy is on the wrong track and it is high time that “il sistema” and its players had their wings clipped so that this wonderful country can breathe freely and develop again.