Meloni refuses to sign the Prime Ministerial Decree on magistrates’ salaries: “Ten times what the road haulage sector needs”. The ANM announces it will appeal

The government and the judiciary are at loggerheads over salaries. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has no intention of signing the Prime Ministerial Decree (Dpcm) that would unlock pay rises for judges. Sources at Palazzo Chigi have confirmed this to Ansa. The pay rises are due following a number of rulings by the Council of State and amount to around one billion euros in total.

The issue is also political. In the Budget Policy Statement, the government has earmarked a one-off “judgements fund” of 1.9 billion for 2027, equivalent to 0.08 per cent of GDP. As reported in recent days by Il Sole 24 Ore, the largest portion of this would be used specifically to cover pay rises for magistrates. According to the same sources, Meloni believes this figure is around ten times what the government is seeking to address the road haulage crisis. That crisis risks bringing the delivery of goods to a standstill across the country. The Prime Minister says she is, however, open to discussion. Palazzo Chigi has made it known that she is ready to listen to representatives of the National Magistrates’ Association. According to Meloni, “the vast majority of magistrates understand the situation and the current priorities”.

The ANM’s response came later that day from Deputy Secretary Stefano Celli. “The government decides, but if there is any scope for it, we will lodge an appeal,” he said. “We will use the legal means available to us to assert our rights, which are the same as those of other citizens.” For now, he clarified, this is merely an assessment: “we will consider lodging an appeal if necessary”.

The dispute stems from a legal battle that has been dragging on for years and which Il Foglio had already reported on at the end of August. The legal basis consists of two laws dating from the 1980s. These stipulate that magistrates’ salaries are to be adjusted every three years, in line with the average of the pay rises received by other civil servants over the preceding three-year period. The mechanism is implemented each time by a Prime Ministerial Decree (Dpcm).

However, the administrative courts have repeatedly rejected the government’s calculations. In early July, the Council of State, upholding the appeal lodged by the ANM, ordered that the adjustment for the three-year period 2018–2020 be revised upwards. The Prime Ministerial Decree (DPCM) of 6 August 2021 had already been deemed incorrect by both the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (TAR) and the Council of State (Palazzo Spada). According to the judges, the calculations omitted certain elements of remuneration, did not include all categories of public sector employees and used a weighted average that was disadvantageous. Istat subsequently recalculated the figures, raising the increase from the initially envisaged 4.85 per cent to 6.22 per cent. On 14 August, however, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court annulled the acts underpinning the Prime Ministerial Decree of 3 June 2024, relating to the three-year period 2021–2023, which had set an increase of 6.69 per cent. The Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and Istat have 90 days to recalculate the figures. Now a new clash has emerged between Meloni and the ANM. The standoff is being played out on several fronts. Legally speaking, final judgements are binding on the administration. The refusal to sign the Prime Ministerial Decree could therefore be challenged, as the ANM suggests. Financially, the budget has little room for manoeuvre. Politically, the government has chosen to frame the issue as a matter of priorities, with judges on one side and lorry drivers on the other.