“Access to Justice Denied to the Poor”: Lawyers Against the Budget

The general secretary of the National Forense Association Di Marco rejects the government and asks to remove the new article for unconstitutionality. "Once again they are trying to make money in this way"

BOLOGNA – “The budget proposal includes a provision that introduces the new article 307 bis in the civil procedure code, which provides for the termination of the process in the event of failure to pay or partial payment of the unified contribution. This is an attempt that had already been made in 2022, but which the government was then forced to withdraw due to its evident unconstitutionality”. This was stated to Dire by the general secretary of the National Forensic Association (ANF) Giampaolo Di Marco, regarding the contents of the budget law presented to Parliament a few days ago.

“Once again, we must reiterate that it is unacceptable to corner a citizen who intends to turn to justice by preventing the trial from being held in the event of failure to pay the unified contribution tax, given that this clearly violates the right that the Constitution recognizes for everyone to take legal action to protect their rights and legitimate interests“, he adds. Once again “there is the unpleasant feeling of a State that makes citizens pay for its inefficiencies. The fight against tax evasion is not done by suppressing constitutional rights, but by organizing a system capable of promptly recovering evaded taxes”.

DI MARCO: “DELETE THE ARTICLE AND PREVENT THE RIGHT OF ACCESS TO JUSTICE FROM BEING DENIED”

Di Marco continues: “Justice is an indispensable and universal good, like the protection of health. Introducing a provision of this type actually means making justice inaccessible to those with limited economic possibilities. But access to justice cannot be a right only for the wealthiest“. For this reason, “the National Forense Association hopes that this provision will be removed during the parliamentary debate and that the Ministry of Justice will commit to ensuring that legislative initiatives are never taken that deny the right of access to justice referred to in Article 24 of our Constitution”.
Once again, concludes the secretary, self-employment is forgotten without the provision of any measure to support it in a time of delicate transition.