Analysis-Italy's Meloni takes on the judiciary, in echo of Berlusconi

By Angelo Amante and Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is clashing with the country's judiciary in the same way her old political ally and mentor Silvio Berlusconi used to, promising a once-in-a-lifetime overhaul of the legal system.

But whereas Berlusconi failed to impose his will on Italy's fiercely independent magistrates and prosecutors, Meloni could yet come out on top, unburdened by the crushing conflict of interest that pegged back her billionaire predecessor.

The judiciary is resisting pressure to change, calling a rare strike later this month over the planned reform.

Separately, courts are challenging a flagship government initiative to redirect migrants away from Italy to Albania.

Meloni's rightist government has cried foul, accusing the powerful judges of playing politics, and has said it will not back down, drawing comfort from opinion polls that show many voters support its uncompromising stance.

"Basically, they want to govern themselves. But there's a problem. If I make a mistake, the Italians can vote me out of office. If they make a mistake, no one can say or do anything. No power in a democratic state works like that," Meloni told a TV channel owned by the Berlusconi family in late January.

Italy's justice system is one of the most dysfunctional in Europe, where, despite recent improvements, it still takes four times the European average to reach a final ruling in civil cases and 3.5 times the average to secure a definitive verdict in criminal trials, according to 2022 data.

While centre-left governments have tended to focus on improving the efficiency of the courts, Berlusconi, who faced dozens of trials largely tied to his media empire up to his death in 2023, repeatedly pushed to curb prosecution powers.

Opponents denounced these efforts as an attempt to curtail his legal woes, and while he succeeded in making it harder to convict white-collar criminals, he failed in his effort to break the links that bind prosecutors and judges.

Unlike in the United States or Britain, judges and prosecutors in Italy share the same career track and are overseen by the same self-governing body, which will not stand for government interference.

IMPARTIALITY

Meloni, who took power in 2022 at the head of a coalition that includes Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, has revisited the old plan of splitting up the judiciary, saying it will make judges more impartial by cutting their ties with prosecutors.

"This is the reform of all reforms," said Francesco Paolo Sisto, the deputy justice minister and Forza Italia politician.

"You would never see a soccer referee coming from the same city as one of the two teams on the field. They must be from a different city. Likewise, a judge must be third-party and impartial," he told Reuters.

In a sign of their discontent, the judiciary has called a one-day strike on Feb. 27, accusing the government of seeking to gain power over prosecutors and dictate what crimes they want to investigate, or steer clear of.

"This will only be harmful. The separation of careers will turn the public prosecutor into a super-police officer, and they will lose the culture of impartiality," said Nicola Gratteri, the chief prosecutor in Naples who is famed for his battles against the 'Ndrangheta mafia.

The government has accused some prosecutors and judges of flexing their judicial powers to force a retreat and the battle looks set to dominate domestic politics for months.

A court in January blocked for the third time a government initiative to detain migrants in camps in Albania, frustrating Meloni's plans to deter people from seeking refuge in Italy and leaving the project in legal limbo.

That same week, a prosecutor stunned Meloni by placing her and three cabinet colleagues under investigation following a government decision to release a Libyan police chief wanted by the International Criminal Court.

HURDLES

Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove, an undersecretary at the Justice Ministry and member of Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, said the magistrates wanted to sabotage the reform. "It seems blatantly obvious to me that this is the case," he told Reuters.

Magistrates deny this and say they are only applying the law.

Supreme Court prosecutor Marco Patarnello wrote to colleagues last October warning them that Meloni was a "far more dangerous" adversary than Berlusconi because she was not mired in legal investigations and was acting out of "political vision".

The message, which was leaked to the media and confirmed by Patarnello, acknowledged that public opinion was no longer behind the magistrates, unlike in the 1990s.

The bill has already been approved by the lower house of parliament, and now goes before the Senate. Because it involves changing the constitution, it needs two readings in both chambers and will then almost certainly be put to a referendum.

But with Meloni's popularity higher now than it was in 2022, she could overcome all these hurdles and even boost her standing with an electorate that has grown tired of perceived failings in the justice system, analysts say.

"I believe that there are no negative electoral consequences (for Meloni), and it is no coincidence that she has chosen to go for confrontation," said Massimiliano Panarari, a communication expert at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Crispian Balmer; Editing by Helen Popper)