Between the government of Giorgia Meloni and the Italian judges, the conflict continues and even acquires a transatlantic dimension. In fact, the nationalist and conservative leader received, on Tuesday, November 12, the support of her “friend” Elon Musk, billionaire with illiberal inclinations and supporter of the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump. The immigration issue, in particular the issue of the Italian detention centers for immigrants installed in Albania, now serves as a battlefield for a confrontation between the executive and judicial powers, also promoted by a justice reform project. Those who oppose this text see it as a fundamental maneuver aimed at undermining the very strong autonomy enjoyed by Italian magistrates.
Certainly, conflict between politicians – particularly on the right – and judges has been a structural feature of Italian public life for three decades. But among the executive’s opponents, there is concern that Giorgia Meloni’s far-right-dominated government will follow in the footsteps of illiberal political forces with which it shares deep affinities, such as Viktor Orban’s Fidesz in Hungary or the ultra-conservatives of the Law. and the Justice Party (PiS), which dominated Polish political life from 2015 to 2023.
A new episode of this conflict occurred on Monday, November 11, when judges in Rome invalidated, for the second time in less than a month, the detention in Albania of immigrants rescued at sea by the Italian authorities. The structures built by Italy in the Balkan country, commissioned in early October, remain empty, as the migrants from the second group spent three nights there before being released and redirected to Italy.
Enemies from within
Only single men, considered non-vulnerable and from countries defined as “sure” by Italian legislation. The migrants returned to Italy on Monday are nationals of Egypt and Bangladesh, two states that belong to this category by law. However, the Rome court considered that the definition of countries “sure” by Italy was in contradiction with European standards. In this case, it refers to a decision according to which a country cannot be considered generally safe if only a part of its territory or population benefits from such security. Therefore, the case was referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), suspending the detention of the immigrants in question.
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