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President Sergio Mattarella and
Premier Giorgia Meloni had an hour-long meeting on Thursday and
the talks focused on Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's reforms,
sources said.
The ruling majority said the meeting took place "without
tension".
Nordio's reforms have been heavily criticised by Italian
magistrates union ANM.
The tension between the government and the judiciary has also
been fed by cases involving members of Meloni's rightwing
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party - Tourism Minister Daniela
Santanche, Justice Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro and Senate
Speaker Ignazio La Russa.
Santanche is being probed over allegations regarded her business
activities, Delmastro is under investigation over an alleged
leak of classified information and La Russa's son has been
accused of rape by a young woman.
The decision by a judge to throw out a request from prosecutors
for the case against Delmastro to be shelved was followed by
government sources saying that some parts of the judiciary had
joined the opposition, suggesting there was a strategy to damage
the ruling coalition ahead of next year's European elections.
At the end of this week's NATO summit, Meloni criticised the
fact that Santanche had not received notification that she is
under investigation and the decision to make prosecutors pursue
the case against Delmastro.
But she also distanced herself from La Russa, who issued a
statement defending his son and calling into question the
alleged victim's version of events on grounds she had taken
cocaine.
"As a mother I can understand the suffering of the Senate
speaker, although I would not have intervened on the merits of
the issue," Meloni told reporters.
One issue that has raised concern is Nordio's comments about the
possibility of changing the crime of external involvement in
mafia association.
On Thursday Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano said this was
not on the agenda.
"The government won't take any steps backwards on organized
crime," Mantovano said.
"There are other priorities".
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