Social needs not always 'met by law'

(ANSA) - Rome, April 11 - 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''.