Inside the Court. It is not hostile to the Melonellum, despite the fears of the right. Pitruzzella and Luciani are the likely rapporteurs

The left is merely wasting time by stalling. The timing and the outcome favour Meloni. The Constitutional Court’s ruling could come as early as January, and the court’s stance is far from hostile to the ‘Melonellum’. On 16 December, at the court in Trento, the first hearing on the appeal will take place, and immediately afterwards the order will be sent to the Speakers of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. At that point, the case passes to the Constitutional Court, a monastery inhabited by fifteen judges – fifteen priests who are now setting the timetable for the next elections. The Court is not Istat, the body Meloni has criticised for being ‘stricter than the rating agencies’. The Court’s new president, Francesco Viganò, could entrust the drafting of the judgement to the two rapporteurs, the two constitutional lawyers: Giovanni Pitruzzella and Massimo Luciani. Pitruzzella is Sergio Mattarella’s protégé, whilst Luciani is the professor favoured by the left. Those who fear – and the right does fear – sabotage, Dario Franceschini’s ‘drones’ and the ‘party of power’ are mistaken.

Relying on the Court to deliver a ruling that would overturn the Melonellum, and thereby do the left a favour by buying it time, risks proving to be a colossal mistake. Sabino Cassese, a former judge of the Court, explained in his book Dentro la Corte. Diario di un giudice costituzionale (il Mulino) that ‘the ruling is a logical exercise based on precedent’. And precedents suggest to constitutional experts that the framework of the new law will hold up, and that there are two real pitfalls – both of which are, in any case, already well known. The first is the threshold for collecting signatures for political parties – high, too high, at 300,000 – which could be lowered to 75,000. The second pitfall concerns gender alternation, which may also be imposed for lead candidates. To imagine the Court as a collective of the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office is nonsense. Those who frequent those chambers – and who can add a touch of colour to the palette of careers – say that the Court can today be described as ‘generally moderate’.

The new president, Viganò, is a centre-left figure, like the former president Marta Cartabia, a former minister in the Draghi government. Marco D’Alberti, who was Draghi’s legal adviser, also has a background working with Draghi. Apart from Luciani and Pitruzzella, the best-known figures are Luca Antonini, the Court’s vice-president, a professor much loved and supported by the Lega (he never misses a book launch by Zaia), and then there is Filippo Patroni Griffi, former president of the Council of State and former minister in the Monti government. There is one more, in truth, and here we come to the very heart of the Meloni government: Francesco Saverio Marini, who worked alongside Meloni – just as D’Alberti did with Draghi – as a legal adviser. It is a Court which, it is worth repeating, is not driven by ideological fervour and does not seek to act as the country’s ‘Third Chamber’. Even Luciani, a professor who deserved to be appointed a constitutional judge twenty years ago (he was the Philip Roth of the left, the Nobel laureate who never was), has published a wide-ranging book entitled: “Ogni cosa al suo posto”.

The Court intends to act swiftly. Following the order from the Court of Trento, it could take ‘only’ forty days. In theory, a judgement could be handed down as early as the end of January. When Franceschini raises the question about Meloni and says, ‘Are you sure she doesn’t want to bring it forward?’, he is sounding a warning: beware, Meloni will have the opportunity to resign and call an election very soon. On the right, obfuscation is part of the game. Salvini, Meloni and Tajani have been heard to say: “Over there, in the Court’s quarters, they’ve never liked us.” They are referring to those institutions – the public prosecutors’ offices, Istat, the high-ranking officials, the Court – which have certainly never rooted for the right. You could have found them all sitting in the Chamber of Deputies at the presentation of Roberto Garofoli’s report “Le leve della crescita” on 27 October – the Woodstock of cabinet chiefs.

The brilliant Claudio Mancini, Rome’s ‘acatapano’ and friend of Roberto Gualtieri, called it ‘the party that isn’t there’ and added: ‘Line them up: Manfredi, Garofoli, Franco Gabrielli and Salvo Nastasi. They’re all potential ministers, the most prominent figures we have.’ This time, the ‘they don’t like us over there’ line is just superstition. Meloni could resign as early as February. Whether she does so or not is almost less important than the defenceless left – a left that is handing out birthright citizenship to the new Turigliattos, a Lenin-themed train where the only thing missing is the right to a platform for Askatasuna. Every day, figures board that train – the Freccia Lenin – who, at the first decisive government vote, could bring it down. The Constitutional Court will rule based on precedent. Even those who vote risk doing the same.