Democrat Serracchiani against the Nordio law: “This way the only form of defense against abuses of power falls”

Roma — “It is a grave mistake to abolish abuse of office and deprive citizens of the only form of protection they had against abuses of power by public administration.” The Justice Department head of the Democratic Party, Debora Serracchiani, rejects the Nordio law just approved by the Chamber.

Justice heats up. Nordio announces new crackdown on wiretapping. The (divided) opposition rises up

by Gabriella Cerami

July 10, 2024

Honorable Serracchiani, according to the majority, Democratic mayors would be in favor of abolishing abuse of office. Is that so?

“We speak constantly with our administrators. We have held a clear position from the beginning explaining that the abolition of the crime, after the 2020 reform, is useless if not harmful.”

Why?

“The new law exposes them to the risk of being investigated for more serious crimes such as corruption and does not eliminate the fear of signing at all. Instead, it is necessary to intervene on the consolidated text of local authorities and in particular to review the civil, criminal and administrative liability of mayors”.

Do you have any parliamentary initiatives planned?

“We have filed a bill in both the Chamber and the Senate. In the Nordio text, however, there is no organic intervention. It does not have the vision or the scope of a reform. It is a flagship measure like all those we have seen so far inspired by emotional pan-penalism and other times by experiential guarantees. Furthermore, on the one hand they abolish abuse of office and on the other with a decree law they reintroduce the crime of embezzlement by distraction because they have to fill a void”.

However, in the Chamber there was no common front from the opposition and the centrists voted with the majority. Is this a sign that there are still too many distances between you?

“On issues of justice it is often difficult to find perfectly overlapping positions. However, there are several topics on which we have worked together and found unity, such as the security package, autonomy and the premiership”.

In addition to the abolition of abuse of office and a new crackdown on wiretapping, the scope of the crime of influence peddling is being narrowed.

“The elimination of abuse of office on the one hand, which exposes us to an infringement procedure by the EU, and the modification of influence peddling on the other, leave serious and particularly socially disvalue behaviors unpunished. In the case of influence peddling, a certain indeterminacy of application is also created due to the absence of a regulation of lobbies in our legal system”.