Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister
Antonio Tajani on Wednesday hit back at the Audit Court for
allegedly exceeding its remit and stepping from the judicial
into the legislative sphere by criticising rumoured government
plans to rein in its powers of oversight over the EU-funded post
COVID National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which has
got bogged down.
Tajani, no 2 in three-time ex premier and media mogul Silvio
Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, accused the
court of not respecting the division of powers between the
legislative, executive and judicial fields and said he preferred
judges who "work in silence and apply the law".
On Monday the court voiced "shock and dismay" at reports of the
government's alleged plans to curb its oversight powers over the
NRRP and tax matters.
Tajani said Wednesday: "In Italy there is legislative, executive
and judicial power: when one invades the territory of the other
there is something wrong.
"The Court must apply itself in accounting justice, it must
judge afterwards not give a preventive opinion, it is not up to
judges to make proposals.
"The judiciary must exercise judicial power not political
power". The deputy premier, foreign minister and FI chair
concluded: "I myself always prefer judges who work in silence
and apply the law."
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