Between the government of Giorgia Meloni and the Italian judges, the conflict continues and even takes on a transatlantic dimension. The nationalist and conservative leader indeed received, on Tuesday, November 12, the support of her « ami » Elon Musk, billionaire with illiberal inclinations and supporter of the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump. The migration issue, in particular the affair of the Italian detention centers for migrants installed in Albania, now serves as a battlefield for a confrontation between the executive and judicial powers, also fueled by a justice reform project. Opponents of this text see it as a fundamental maneuver aimed at undermining the very strong autonomy enjoyed by Italian magistrates.
Certainly, the conflict between politicians – particularly on the right – and judges has been a structural feature of Italian public life for three decades. But among opponents of the executive, there is concern to see the government dominated by the far right of Giorgia Meloni following in the footsteps of illiberal political forces with which it shares deep affinities, such as Viktor Orban's Fidesz in Hungary or the ultraconservatives of the Law and Justice party (PiS) who dominated Polish political life from 2015 to 2023.
A new episode in this conflict occurred on Monday, November 11, when judges in Rome invalidated, for the second time in less than a month, the detention in Albania of migrants rescued at sea by the Italian authorities. The structures built by Italy in the Balkan country, put into service at the beginning of October, are therefore still empty, the migrants from the second group having spent three nights there before they were released and redirected to Italy.
Enemies from within
Only single men, considered non-vulnerable and coming from countries defined as “safe” by Italian legislation. The migrants brought back to Italy on Monday are nationals of Egypt and Bangladesh, two states belonging to this category by law. However, the court of Rome considered that the definition of countries “safe” by Italy was in contradiction with European standards. In this case, it refers to a decision according to which a country cannot be considered generally safe if only part of its territory or its population benefits from said security. The case was therefore referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), suspending the detention of the migrants concerned.
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