Italian Senate Speaker Pietro
Grasso on Tuesday defended wiretapping as an investigative tool
that he said should not be limited in any way, as Italy
discusses reforms to criminal trial procedures.
The former chief anti-mafia prosecutor, speaking at a
ceremony to mark the closure of parliament ahead of the summer,
said wiretaps were an "indispensable investigative tool".
He said they should not be limited but could be "better
regulated via hearings to filter out irrelevant recordings and
keep only those useful to the investigation".
Hardly a week goes by in Italy without the transcripts of
new wiretapped conversations appearing in newspapers.
Politicians who fear embarrassing leaks argue for greater
limits on wiretaps, but they have also served as key evidence in
several mafia and corruption investigations.
Grasso also urged parliament on Tuesday to speedily approve
a bill on slander that is pending in the Senate.
"Its gestation has been too long and complicated," Grasso
said of the bill that would change the rules for journalists,
"30 of whom have been sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison
for slander in the past four years" he added.
Turning to Senate reform, Grasso said Italy needs an Upper
House with different functions than the Lower House.
"We need a Senate with exclusive and not competitive
functions," he said.
These could be "oversight, investigation, nominations, and
relations with the EU," he said, adding that he hoped for a deal
on the composition of the new Senate.
A reform bill to streamline parliament is due to arrive in
the Upper House for another reading after the summer break.
It aims to overhaul Italy's slow, costly political
machinery and features the controversial transformation of the
Senate into a leaner assembly of local-government
representatives with limited law-making powers to save money and
make passing legislation easier.
Grasso also spoke out on civil rights issues on Tuesday,
saying that it was high time Italy approved civil unions for gay
people.
Earlier in July, the European Court of Human Rights
criticised Italy for failing to legally recognise same-sex
couples, arguing that this violated their rights.
"I must strongly point to the delay that has been
accumulating over the years," he said.
"The time has come to grant full citizenship to the rights
of gay couples, taking into account and regulating the social
reality in our country," he said.
Grasso touched on the political and economic situation in
Europe too, saying that its priorities needed to change if it
wants to survive.
"Europe must change or it will cease to be," he said.
"We must pursue growth, investments, competitiveness,
employment, actual equality, and the quality of life of our
citizens," he said, adding that respect for the rules and
stringent budget discipline was not enough.
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