(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 6 - Naples Chief Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri on Monday criticised the government's plan to reform the career systems of Italian magistrates and separate the career paths of judges and prosecutors so that it is no longer possible to switch from one role to the other.
    "I don't think it's urgent," Gratteri said when asked about the reform during a press conference in the prosecutor's office in Naples.
    "Only 0.2 % make the switch from one function to another and when it is granted, the magistrate has to change court of appeal.
    "I think it is an attempt to bring prosecutors under government control.
    'There is major psychological pressure on the prosecutors today.
    "I have broad shoulders and nerves of steel.
    "I have been eating bread and poison for many years, but I imagine what it's like for the young magistrates grappling with these reforms".
    Justice Minister Carlo Nordio has said the controversial separation of career paths is a non-negotiable policy "It is in the government programme, it was agreed by all the coalition forces," he has said.
    "It must be implemented out of respect for the citizens who voted for us".
    The move is part of a package of reforms set to be presented before June's European elections.
    The package will also see the splitting up the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM), the judiciary's self-governing body, into two and it may feature the setting up a 'High Court' to judge Italy's judges..
    Gratteri also criticised another aspect of the reforms - removing the obligation to prosecute some felonies in certain circumstances.
    "'The criminal code must not be cut with an axe to prove to Europe that the number of crimes in Italy has fallen," Gratteri said.
    "I am clearly against it and I was already against it when prosecution was made optional with a previous reform". Nordio is set to meet magistrates union ANM at the justice ministry in Rome on Tuesday, sources said,.
    The ANM had requested an encounter with Nordio to discuss the reforms a few days ago. (ANSA).