New woes for Berlusconi as Italian president rejects justice bill

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2004

ROME (AFP) — Italy's president refused to sign into law a controversial judicial reform by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government which magistrates said would threaten their independence, the president's office revealed.

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said the draft law, which caused magistrates to strike three times in the past year in protest, would have to be re-examined by parliament.

The national coordinator of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, Sandro Bondi, said the governing party respected the decision but that it showed "how difficult it is in Italy to proceed down the road of reform".

The reform has been one of Berlusconi's priorities since his government came to power in May 2001.

However, the ultimate arbiter is the...