Judicial Reform in the midst of crisis

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Francesco Palermo

02 August 2022

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Italy is embarking on a major reform of its judicial system. Can it do away with overlong court proceedings, or is it just a concession to the EU? Francesco Palermo sees an opportunity.

The Italian judicial system has been traditionally characterized by strong safeguards for judicial independence, both for judges and prosecutors, and by structural weaknesses, especially in terms of the length of proceedings.

Recently a new law, adopted in June 2022, concerns the aspects of independence in the judicial system. The reform aims at regulating the organization of the judicial system, such as changing roles between judges and prosecutors, performance evaluation and the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council. The law is part of an ambitious reform package that should make the Italian judiciary more efficient.

The full article is available at the website of Legal Tribune Online.

Francesco Palermo

Francesco Palermo is Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Verona and head of the Institute for Comparative Federalism at Eurac Research. He was president of the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies. Palermo was a member and vice-president of the Scientific Committee of the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency. Palermo was member and president of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and Senior Legal Advisor to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. In his rare spare time, Palermo is an avid ice hockey fan. His X account is: @franzpalermo.