We'll listen to magistrates before reforms says Nordio

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 26 - Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said Thursday that the government will consult the judiciary before pressing ahead with its planned reforms of the judicial system, "Before being entrusted to the evaluations of the sovereign parliament, every future reform will be composed via listening to the all of the voices of the justice system," he said at the ceremony for the opening of the judicial year, specifically mentioning lawyers and the judiciary.
    Nordio has said the government is determined to make the regulations for the use of wiretaps by examining magistrates stricter to stop the reputations of innocent people being damaged by recordings of private conversations appearing in the press.
    He also wants to press ahead with plans to make the career paths of judges and prosecutors separate.
    Magistrates union ANM has characterised the plans as an umpteenth bid to put Italy's independent judiciary under some form of government control, a contention former prosecutor Nordio denies.
    On Thursday Nordio said that the "autonomy and independence of the judiciary are a cornerstone of our democracy, guaranteed by the Constitution.
    "These essential principles accompanied me throughout my long professional career as a prosecutor," he added. (ANSA).