Nordio: “Di Pietro? A great magistrate; he has the right to stand for election to the CSM.” However, Forza Italia is opposed.

"Antonio Di Pietro was a great magistrate, a true public prosecutor, a true investigator, and he fought hard during the referendum for a liberal stance." So said the Minister for Justice, Carlo Nordio, on ‘Myrta Confidential’, a programme airing tonight at 9 pm on San Marino RTV, commenting on the decision by Antonio Di Pietro – former public prosecutor in the Mani Pulite investigation – to stand as a candidate for the Superior Council of the Judiciary. “I believe he has every right to stand and is fully qualified to do so,” he continued. It will be up to others to decide, but I think that standing as a candidate is perfectly consistent with his background, not only as a magistrate but also as a politician.” The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate will be convened in a joint session on Wednesday 11 November at 9.30 am to vote on the election of ten members of the CSM. As this is the second ballot, a three-fifths majority of the total members of the Assembly is required for candidates to be elected. From the third ballot onwards, a three-fifths majority of those voting is required.

However, the Justice Minister’s endorsement clashes with the clear opposition expressed by Forza Italia’s government allies. “Had it been a personal matter, I would have kept quiet,” Stefania Craxi, Forza Italia’s Senate group leader, told Il Foglio, explaining her “no” to Di Pietro’s candidacy: “It conflicts with the notion of justice that Silvio Berlusconi held and which this party still upholds. I speak as group leader and in the name of a political culture and a notion of justice rooted in the rule of law, in the concept of a fair trial before an impartial and independent judge, and in the presumption of innocence.” For Craxi, “Di Pietro is the symbol of an era of terror, in which the very idea of an impartial and independent judge was undermined, and he is partly responsible for the descent into the maelstrom of punitive populism. Through his history and actions – she added – he is the symbol of an era in which the balance of powers was shattered and in which justice became so politicised that it determined who should remain in the political arena and who should disappear. An entire ruling class was swept away”. With this wound, the senator said, the country “has not yet fully come to terms with it”, and “being elected as a member of the CSM means taking on a role in which seriousness, selfless action, legal expertise and the ability to represent even those who think differently must prevail”.