Covid, evictions, is suspension legitimate? Tomorrow the examination of the Constitutional Court

Is the suspension of evictions ordered during the Covid emergency legitimate? The matter will be examined tomorrow by the Constitutional Court in a public hearing. To raise the question of constitutional legitimacy an execution judge at the Court of Trieste and a real estate execution judge of the court of Savona. The 2020 legislative decrees are under discussion (which provided for an initial suspension of evictions on 30 June of the same year, then postponed to 1 September and with subsequent extensions to 31 December 2020, then to 30 June 2021) and the support decree of the 2021 which with an amendment further extended the block to 30 September and 31 December 2021, differentiating the terms based on the dates of adoption of the release measures: for evictions adopted from 28 February to 30 September 2020, the block until 30 September 2021 ; for those adopted from 1 October 2020 to 30 June 2021, the block will take place until 31 December 2021. The judge of Trieste in particular disputes the application of the suspension of the release measures in situations deemed unrelated to the health emergency, such as arrears , in the payment of rents, prior to the pandemic, and the effect of the suspension under the law, which does not allow the judge to be able to assess the different needs of the owner and the occupant. The judge also raises doubts regarding a possible violation of the conditions of necessity and urgency and underlines the contrast with the protection of the right of property, as the suspension could constitute an illegitimate case of expropriation without compensation, with evident damage to the protection of savings. in relation to real estate. Furthermore, it affirms the existence of the violation of the principle of effectiveness of judicial protection in the executive phase and, finally, exposes the possible violation of the principle of the reasonable duration of the trial and of the right of property. real estate at the Court of Savona. According to the magistrate, the rules censured in the decree law of 22 March 2021 would introduce a disproportionate and unreasonable measure; moreover they would conflict with article 3 of the Constitution which establishes the equal social dignity and equality of citizens before the law, both in terms of unequal treatment and in terms of reasonableness. The legislator, according to the Judge, referring the discipline to all eviction measures for arrears even prior to the health emergency, would have treated different situations in the same way and, having not left the execution judge any margin of appreciation, under the profile of the comparative evaluation of the parties, would have granted an unreasonable and disproportionate automatic preference to the position of the tenant. Among the other important issues to be examined by the Court from tomorrow: the Severino law, the Courts of Genoa and Catania censure the automatic suspension, for a fixed amount of 18 months, from the elected offices of local authorities in the event of non-definitive conviction for certain crimes ; debts of the Public Administration, do the current regulations actually prevent forced execution against the Ministry of Health? The doubts of the Court of Rome; Doubts about the penalty limits for minors’ access to community penal measures. (By Roberta Lanzara)