As we have previously covered, Italy’s Constitutional Court reviewed aspects of the Tajani Decree back in March to determine if the new citizenship by descent framework violates the Italian constitution. While a press release came out the day after the hearing confirming that they would, for the time being, uphold the decree, on April 30th, 2026 they released their full statement, providing further clarification about their decision. Below, we cover the most important points to know, as well as a positive area moving forward.
The March 11th hearing
Prior to the Tajani Decree, Italian citizenship by descent was available virtually without generational limit, so long as the Italian ancestor the applicant is claiming through was alive after Italian became a unified nation, on March 17th, 1861. The Tajani Decree, introduced on March 28th, 2025, limited the ability to apply for citizenship by descent to those who are 2 generations removed from the Italian ancestor.
On march 11th the Constitutional Court reviewed for the first time the new eligibility requirements introduced by the Tajani Decree but focused only on the following points in relation to the Tajani Decree:
- The retroactive application of the law
- The equality of the law
- The inherent rights of Italian descendants
- The necessity of the decree-law action
This is important to highlight, because the court did not review all aspects of the decree and its constitutionality, further constitutional reviews are possible. In fact, the Constitutional Court is set to review the compliance with the Italian Constitution of the Tajani decree one more time on June 9, 2026.
The issue of retroactivity
The Constitutional Court ruled that there was not an issue in applying the Tajani Decree retroactively, a point that some have found puzzling. Arguments were made that to apply it retroactively would unconstitutionally strip people of Italian citizenship, since jure sanguinis is considered to be inherited from the moment of birth and that the Italian state merely recognizes it when one is granted citizenship. However, the Constitutional Court argued that no loss could be considered to have incurred if those people had not taken action to have their citizenship recognized before the decree. As we see below, this opens up a door for future applications.
An open question for those who sought appointments or took action prior to the decree
In section 9.1 of the Constitutional Court’s official statement (Sentence N. 63, ord. 167/2025), they recognized both the categories of those who received notices of upcoming appointments before the Tajani Decree, and those who started the process or actively sought appointments but were unsuccessful. Essentially, they maintained that those who had received appointments prior to March 27, 2025 11:59 p.m. should be protected under the previous regulations for citizenship jure sanguinis. For those who started the process or unsuccessfully sought appointments prior to this date, they did not issue a ruling since this question was not specifically brought forth. This means there is the possibility of such persons to also being allowed to be considered under the old rules. Already, there was one such successful case earlier this year, with a group of Italo-Argentinian applicants who were granted citizenship under the old rules by the Court of Palermo after successfully demonstrating that they had attempted multiple times to secure a citizenship appointment before the Tajani Decree. The provision in the ruling from the Constitutional Court which acknowledged the existence of the category of individuals who initiated the process prior to March 28, 2025 reinforces the claims of those who fall in this category.
The upcoming June review
As mentioned above, in June of 2026, the same court is set to rule on the Tajani Decree again, considering a new set of issues that the Courts of Mantova and Campobasso are bringing forward. Specifically, they will examine the decree in the broader context of EU law.
Conclusion
If you have questions about the Tajani Decree affects your citizenship eligibility, or would like assistance with your application, contact Italian Citizenship Assistance today at [email protected].
