Italy's Constitutional Court has to
respond to social needs that are not completely fulfilled by
legislation, Constitutional Court President Paolo Grossi said
Monday in his 2015 report on the Court's activities.
''The questions posed to the justice of laws and conflicts
appear as a sign that, in the social context, needs not fully
satisfied through legislation are re-emerging'', Grossi said,
noting that political choices appear at times insufficient or
inadequate to tackle key constitutional issues.
In this context, Grossi noted, the Court does not only
safeguard static principles but also needs to become a
''guarantor'' of ''logic methods'' enabling values to be
concretely recognized in an ever-changing society.
Constitutional Court trials last ''on average a year'', with
cases involving detainees taking even less than six months, he
said.
In his report, the Constitutional Court president also noted
that the premier's office had a ''relevant presence'' in the
Court's cases, defending existing legislation in 148 instances.
In addition, the government filed 44 cases to the
Constitutional Court while opposing 74 claims presented by other
institutions.
Overall, the Constitutional court is a ''fundamentally
extraneous'' to the legislative, executive and judiciary powers,
with an ''indispensable'' role to safeguard constitutional
cohabitation, Grossi stressed.
The Constitutional Court is also ''increasingly involved in
the dialogue with supranational courts'', he added.
Speaking about the Italian judiciary, the Constitutional
Court president said that the quality of the country's
magistrates is ''egregious'' but there are ''too few judges with
an excessive amount of work'', explaining why many rulings
presented to the Court present defects and are rejected as
inadmissible.
Grossi also said that the Constitutional Court will give a
preventive opinion on the constitutionality of an electoral
reform package which returned to the Lower House floor on
Monday, based on ''the instrument of good sense''.
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