Revista da EMERJ - V. 21 - N. 2 - Maio/Agosto - 2019

35  R. EMERJ, Rio de Janeiro, v. 21, n. 2, p. 11-39, Maio-Agosto, 2019  status and the salary of judges of Cassazione . These changes have certainly fostered the independence of judges. On the other hand, it has been acknowl edged that the peculiar relationship which over the past 40 years or so has been created between promotion, professional evaluation and career is unsatisfactory. In fact, it is quite uncommon for a judge not to be promoted or to be dismissed from office for inability or incompetence prior to the age of mandatory retirement. Professional evaluations and promotions are now regulated by a new law. 96 Magistrates are evaluated several times in the course of their career with reference to four aspects of their performance: capacity, productivity, diligence, and motivation. The new law is aimed at making the conditions of professional evaluations and promotions more stringent. An analysis of the decisions of the CSM under the new regulation shows that all the magistrates that were evaluated were regularly promoted. 97 Fixing performance targets is an open issue also in Italy. 98 V. Court Specialization 1. Review of Administrative Action: A Glimpse of Legal History The attitude of the Italian legal system to court specialization is rather complex and ambiguous. It cannot be explained without remarking on the history concerning the judicial protection of individuals against the action of the public administration, as this was the first way the question of court specialization emerged after the unification of Italy in 1861. An attempt to concentrate the review of administrative action be- fore ordinary courts had been enacted by law no. 2248 of 1865, 99 but in the subsequent decades it turned out to be incapable of ensuring judicial protection in some major situations. As a consequence, a new (fourth) sec- tion was added in 1889 to the Council of State ( Consiglio di Stato ), 100 with 96 Decreto legislativo no. 160/2006. 97 Cf. G. Di Federico , Judicial Independence in Italy, p. 374. 98 Cf. R. Fuzio , La misura del lavoro del magistrato tra standard e carichi esigibili – Problema nuovo? A che punto siamo (Nota a Consiglio sup. magistratura, 23 settembre 2015 e Consiglio sup. magistratura, 23 luglio 2014), Foro Italiano, 2016, III, p. 58. 99 Cf. Law 20 March 1865, no. 2248, Attachment E, Abolizione del contenzioso amministrativo . 100 Based on the French model of the Conseil d’État, the Consiglio di Stato is the main legal and administrative advisory body to the government administration.