The financial maneuver puts its hands in the Code of Civil Procedure. And it does so with what appears to be an ad personam rule. The latest version of the budget law, sent to the Quirinale this morning, provides for the halt in appeal to civil sentences exceeding ten million euros. That's not enough: another stop in the Cassation for sentences that go beyond 20 million euros, this time however in exchange for "a suitable bail". These are interventions that could also affect the appeal ruling for the Mondadori award, expected for the end of this week. In the first instance Mediaset had been sentenced to compensate Cir with 750 million euros.
The draft adds a paragraph to article 283 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which concerns provisions on provisional execution on appeal. Up to now it was envisaged that the appellate judge could "at the request of one of the parties, when there are serious and well-founded reasons, suspend all or part of the enforceability or execution of the contested sentence, with or without bail". The additional paragraph in the financial maneuver reads as follows: "The suspension provided for by the preceding paragraph is in any case granted for sentences exceeding ten million euros if the applicant pays a suitable bail".
The same goes for the sentences in the Cassation. Article 373 of the Code provides that the judge can suspend the sentence or establish a "congruous bond" in the event that the payment of the fine risks causing "serious and irreparable damage". But with the additional paragraph, the envisaged suspension would be "in any case granted for sentences exceeding twenty million euros if the applicant pays a suitable bail".
