Great concern, and related mobilization by the Attorney's Office of the District of Naples. The crisis of the Justice of the Peace Offices, already evident for some time throughout Italy - after the damage caused by the entry into force of the Cartabia reform - risks worsening further with the introduction of the Orlando reform, which provides for the expansion of the competences of this sector from October 2025.
From that moment on, in fact, the structural and operational problems already existing will undergo a significant and inevitable escalation to the detriment of the justice service.
In line with the feared paralysis of the system – which is already compromised – all the Councils of the Bar Associations of the District of Naples have called, for the first time, a joint demonstration to be held on December 13, 2024, at 10:30 am at the Office of the Justice of the Peace of Naples – Caserma Garibaldi.
The Legal Profession requires concrete solutions capable of determining a definitive and regular functioning of the Justice of the Peace Offices, since the now intolerant and significant dysfunctions damage not only the profession, but due to the consequent tensions, they reflect negatively on citizens.
The Presidents of the Councils of the Order of the District of Naples – Carmine Foreste, Fabio Benigni, Stefania Pavone, Gianluca Lauro, Arturo Rianna, Angela Del Vecchio and Pasquale Damiano have unanimously expressed themselves on the issue:
“The coverage of the organic plants of the Justice of the Peace Offices, both with reference to Judges and administrative staff, is inadequate and does not allow to cope with the workload. In this context, consider the dysfunctions of the telematic civil process, in force for over a year.
All this determines the failure to deal with the proceedings, the postponements of the hearings even to two years. It must also be considered that the increase of the competences, foreseen by the reform starting from October 2025, will determine the definitive paralysis of the Justice of proximity.
We believe the functionality needs of the Justice of the Peace are urgent and, therefore, we hope for immediate responses. In particular, we ask for the elimination or in any case the extension of the entry into force of the provision that expands the competences, foreseen from October 2025; the Coverage of organic plants.
Structural interventions that adapt buildings to the needs related to the PCT; the reform of the procedure, providing for the return to the act of summons; the reduction of the time required for the introduction of new judges into the role; the monitoring of productivity; the revision of the staffing plans based on the flows; the elimination of the provision that provides for the insertion of art. 307 bis in the code of civil procedure.”
The President of the COA of Torre Annunziata, Attorney Pasquale Damiano, during the press conference of Wednesday 11/12/2024, set precisely to announce the event, highlighted the great concern of the entire legal profession and especially of the one he represents. He explained in fact that the additional skills destined for the Justices of the Peace will end up increasing their work by 40%, data completely overlooked by the government, which now considers the results achieved in the Courts, the exclusive objective for access to the funds of the Pnrr.
Incomprehensible dynamics, added President Damiano, especially in light of the results of an inspection carried out by the Ministry of Justice at the Court of Torre Annunziata in 2016, on the basis of which serious staff shortages were reported and the need to remedy them, before the situation became irreversible. Referring then to the current critical issues at the Justice of the Peace Offices, he added the data that give direct evidence of the ongoing crisis:
“The number of justices of the peace in service at our Court has dropped from 16 to 9, the registries have serious staffing problems and the infrastructures have been adapted as best as possible to the new needs, as have the IT systems, which were not initially designed to carry out these activities”.
Article published on 12 December 2024 - 09:15
It is truly sad to see the situation of the Justice of the Peace Offices getting worse, the reforms seem not to consider the real problems. We need a quick solution, otherwise we risk a total collapse of justice. Let's hope they listen to the requests.