Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has officially entered the campaign ahead of the March 22–23 referendum on the government’s justice reform, releasing a 13-minute video on social media aimed at countering criticism and urging voters to support the changes.
“In recent months—and even more so in recent weeks—there has been enormous confusion surrounding this referendum,” Meloni said. “There have been controversies, slogans and, in many cases, partial or completely distorted information.”
According to the prime minister, critics are attempting to transform the vote into a referendum on her government rather than on the reform itself.
“They are telling you to vote ‘no’ simply to bring down the government,” she said. “Do not fall into that trap. If Italians want to remove us, they can do so in next year’s elections. But this vote is about justice, not politics.”
Meloni described the reform as a crucial step toward modernizing Italy’s legal system and improving its efficiency, accountability and meritocracy.
“The justice system is one of the three fundamental powers of the state,” she said. “If it is not efficient and effective, an essential part of the mechanism that ensures our prosperity stops working—and citizens pay the price.”
She also argued that the reform addresses a long-standing imbalance between judicial power and responsibility. In some cases, she said, even serious mistakes by magistrates have gone unpunished.
However, opposition leaders strongly reject the government’s narrative.
Speaking at a conference in the Italian Chamber of Deputies titled Justice, Constitution and Citizenship – The Reasons for No, Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte warned that the reform could weaken democratic safeguards.
“We will not allow you to undermine the pillars of our democracy by subjecting the judiciary— which must remain autonomous and independent— to political control,” Conte said.
Nicola Fratoianni, leader of the Left Alliance (AVS), echoed those concerns in a social media response, accusing the government of attempting to delegitimize judges and limit their independence.
“The decisions of magistrates answer to only one thing: the law, which must be the same for everyone,” he said. “That is precisely what this government does not seem to like.”