Italia: Retten og politikken i konflikt

Abstract

Silvio Berlusconi var statsminister i til sammen ti år – lenger enn alle sine forgjengere i moderne tid. I disse årene reiste påtalemyndighetene tiltale mot ham i en rekke saker, og det førte til en skarp konflikt mellom hans regjering og parlamentsflertallet på den ene siden og rettssystemet på den andre. Konflikten skyldes imidlertid ikke bare Berlusconis mulige lovbrudd, men er også knyttet til spesielle trekk ved forholdet mellom rett og politikk i Italia.

In Italy, the judicial system enjoys a more autonomous position than in most other European countries, both towards the legislative and the executive powers. The autonomy was guaranteed in the Constitution of 1948, due to the experiences during fascism. From the beginning of the 1970s a new generation of radical judges started to reveal corruption among politicians, which resulted in an increasing tension between the judicial and a part of the political system. During the Berlusconi governments, investigative judges took Berlusconi himself and many other center-right politicians to court for corruption, abuse of power, etc. on a long range of occasions. Berlusconi and his coalition responded with severe attacks on judges for being «communists», seeking to undermine the government and the electoral will of the people, and restricting the autonomy of the judicial system. The author argues that the conflict between the two systems is due not only the particular characteristics of Italian politics, but must be explained by the particular traits of the judicial system and the strong politicization of parts of the judicial branch as well.

Keywords: Italy,judicial system,Berlusconi,judicial reform