Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday unveiled constitutional reforms he says will curb the powers of Italy's judiciary - a move condemned by the opposition as an attempt by the country's prime minister to strengthen his position in the trials he is facing. The package is to be tabled in parliament, where it is likely to face a difficult passage given the wafer-thin majority the ruling conservative coalition enjoys in the lower branch, the chamber of deputies.
Berlusconi said the reforms had "absolutely zero" to do with his current legal woes, which include an indictment on charges of paying an underage prostitute for sex. That trial is scheduled to begin April 6. "This reform was conceived in 1994 when I first entered the field (of politics). And I once said that I wouldn't leave politics until Italy's justice system had been changed," Berlusconi told a news conference in Rome.
The 74-year-old media-magnate, his face partly bandaged, was making his first public appearance since he underwent surgery earlier this week for damage suffered to his mouth in 2009, when he was attacked by a man wielding a miniature statue. The premier was flanked by Justice Minister Angelino Alfano, who denied that the reforms were "retaliation" against politically-motivated magistrates.
The reforms aim to bring "parity between the prosecution and the defence," Alfano said. If approved, the bill would force magistrates to choose between a career as a prosecutor or a judge. In Italy, prosecutors and judges can currently switch between the two career paths. "In order for the judges to be really above both (the prosecution and the defence), they cannot be direct colleagues of prosecutors," Alfano said.
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