Even among Democratic mayors, there are those who are happy about the first “yes” answer to the abolition of the crime of abuse of power, which came to the Justice Commission with the support of the centre-right Italia Viva.
Yes, because if PD leaders unite with the opposition put forward by 5 Stars and the Alliance of Greens and Lefts on the Nordio bill – Alfredo Bazoli, PD’s group leader in the Justice Committee, thunders: “Many abusive behaviors of public officials will remain without sanctions” – mayors and local administrators They don’t quite agree.
Matteo Ricci, mayor of Pesaro and coordinator of PD mayors, describes the vote in the commission as “a victory”. “We mayors have been demanding a review of the crime of malfeasance for 10 years. It is a crime for which 95 percent of cases result in acquittal or expulsion, and a crime that an executive risks committing simply by voting or signing a law does not work and has historically It has so far risked clogging up the already very slow judicial system,” he said on Uno Radio. “There was a big debate on the issue in the Democratic Party: While we, the mayors, respect the position of the Democratic MPs, we can only consider today’s victory as a victory,” he added.
Many of the Democratic Party mayors, who prefer to talk about “revision” rather than complete cancellation, also think like Ricci. Florence mayor Dario Nardella recalled that “all mayors, regardless of their political color, have always condemned the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of this crime of abuse of power.” According to the mayor of Florence, “There will be no obvious conflict between the mayors of the Democratic Party and the party, because be careful, the Democratic Party did not say that this crime is permissible in its form.”
But many clearly see the different perspectives between PD leaders and mayors. Renzian Davide Faraone ironically advises secretary Elly Schlein to “listen more to your rulers before supporting M5S and starting pitched battles in Parliament.”
“Left-wing mayors who want to change the law for fear of signatures are mistaken,” PD MP and former Minister of Justice Andrea Orlando told Radio Popolare. “They are wrong – he reiterates – this is a serious political mistake because I think restructuring the malfeasance is appropriate, canceling it risks creating more problems for mayors than it will solve, which will be the case for mayors. The error of judgment made today will pay for itself in the future.” Who will pay in decades?
Cancellation of misconduct
The annulment of abuse of power is one of the most anticipated interventions of the justice reform sought by the majority and is included in Article 1 of the so-called Nordio bill.
The crime under Article 323 of the Penal Code occurs when a public official or “person responsible for public service” “provides unfair financial advantage for himself or others” or “causes unjust harm to others”.
If criminal abolition would give the green light to “harassment by public power” according to the National Association of Magistrates, its repeal is among Minister Nordio’s main battle points. Those who want to repeal the law argue that the case is too “unclear”, resulting in a large number of judicial proceedings, but only a tiny fraction of them resulting in convictions.
The majority argue that the crime is almost never detected in a legal context, but at the same time, being accused of this crime creates strong media coverage, especially if it involves politicians.
Over time, the reason for repealing or at least revising this law was adopted by many mayors and local administrators. Action member and former Deputy Minister of Justice Enrico Costa said:Whoever abuses abuse“, who were involved in investigations and trials for abuse of power in 150 cases of mayors of small municipalities and were later acquitted. In the volume, he describes the elimination of a “temporary” crime as “sacred”.
There are actually some representatives of the Democratic Party among the mayors. On the other hand, a few months ago Nordio said: “I can say on my honor that the leaders of the Democratic Party and other groups, and above all the mayors, begged us to eliminate this crime of fear of signature”.
Source: Today IT
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
