The Commission had also underlined83 that under the new regime a trustee can be appointed as soon as a mayor, a deputy mayor or a council member is suspended “for the sole reason that the person has allegedly committed the offences of aiding and abetting terrorism and terrorist organisations.84 As the Venice Commission has noted when examining the decree-laws on the state of emergency, criminal cases have been initiated on the basis of a list of very vague and wide criteria. In its Opinion on the Emergency Decree Laws, the Commission emphasized that ‘the evidentiary threshold for arresting a person (‘reasonable suspicion’) and, a fortiori, for convicting him or her (‘beyond reasonable doubt’) should be much higher’ (§ 176). It is evident that, as the measures taken on the basis of the Decree Law n° 674 are conditioned by investigations and prosecutions against local elected representatives, the way in which such investigations and prosecutions are conducted has an impact on the measures provided for in the Decree Law, both in terms of necessity and proportionality.