On March 14, 2026, MEDEL (Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés), an association of European magistrates, convened a conference in Rome titled “Europe in the context of the global attack on the Rule of Law and international law,” gathering testimony from lawyers, judges, and prosecutors across Europe and the United States about the common threats they face. The conference specifically addressed the situation of Italian judges and prosecutors confronting Meloni’s constitutional reform, which participants described as an attempt to dismantle the constitutional safeguards for judicial independence established after World War II. MEDEL designated 2026 as the year of the “International Day of the Endangered Lawyer,” reflecting the organization’s assessment that legal professionals globally are under unprecedented institutional and political pressure. Participants drew explicit parallels between the targeting of law firms in the United States and the pressuring of magistrates in European contexts, identifying a shared authoritarian logic across multiple jurisdictions. The conference represents a significant moment of transnational solidarity among legal professionals facing democratic erosion.

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