Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni announced that she is implementing a judicial reform of the legal system, that will sever the ties between prosecutors and judges.
The move is reminiscent of a past attempt by her mentor, Silvio Berlusconi, who failed to implement any reform, due to a conflict of interest.
Following Meloni’s announcement, Italy's judiciary declared an unusual one-day strike later this month, in protest of the move.
"In principle, the judges want to govern themselves, but there is a problem," Meloni said, noting that unlike the judges, the Italian nation can choose to impeach her, if they decide she has behaved wrongly: "If the judges) make a mistake, no one can say or do anything."
In Italy, judges and the prosecution are overseen by the same independent body, which has led to criticism on the Right over the years, as well as claims that the prosecutor's track and the judge's track need to be separated.
Both the Right and the Left in the country agree that the judicial system needs to change, given that it is considered one of the busiest in Europe.
Center-left governments in the Country of the Boot tend to focus on changes that will improve the efficiency of the courts, and Right-wing governments, such as those of Meloni and Berlusconi, have tried to curb the prosecution’s powers.
Meloni's decision followed the court’s third block of her government's plan to combat immigration.
Francesco Paolo Sisto, Italy's deputy Justice Minister, told Reuters that "you will not see a football referee from the same city as one of the teams – a referee should be an impartial third party."