The Court of Justice of the European Union is already set to review the Tajani Decree’s compliance with EU law, but now the Court of Avellino has presented a specific case involving the refusal of citizenship to minors to the CJEU. Below, we lay out what has happened and how it fits into the broader context of the CJEU’s upcoming decision.
The Constitutional Court’s previous ruling
To recap, earlier this year, the Constitutional Court held two hearings to review aspects of the Tajani Decree: one on March 11th, and one on June 9th. The former hearing ended with a ruling in favor of the Tajani Decree, although the Constitutional Court noted the group of persons who tried in good faith to secure consular appointments, without success, before the decree was in force. In fact, multiple court cases have now been won for such applicants, allowing them to be recognized as Italian citizens under the former framework.
The June 9th hearing considered issues brought forth from the Courts of Mantova and Campobasso concerning the inherent status of Italian citizenship by birth, compliance with EU law, the retroactive application, and the necessity of the emergency decree-law action.
Ultimately, the court decided to refer the Tajani Decree to the Court of Justice of the European Union to consider issues of the legality of the decree within broader EU law.
The Court of Justice of the European Union
The primary question that the Court of Justice will be considering is: can Italy lawfully restrict access to EU citizenship for individuals previously considered Italian and EU citizens under previous law? Second, does EU law permit a Member State to apply such restrictions retroactively?
While the Court of Justice is still considering the Tajani Decree, the Court of Catanzaro recently postponed a case until June of next year, citing the need for a decision to be issued by the CJEU. We will release an article in-depth about this decision soon, but in short, it is indicative that at least one Italian judge thinks the EU might have a decision by summer 2027 and that the decision is worth waiting for before ruling on cases.
What happened at the Court of Avellino
In September, the Court of Avellino raised a new referral before the Court of Justice, specifically challenging Article 3-bis of the new law regarding minor children. The issue stems from the fact that jure sanguinis citizenship is applied from birth, not from the moment the judge rules favorably for an applicant. Then, the Court of Avellino asks, how can minor children of Italian citizens born before the reform, who were considered Italian from birth under a previous law, have that citizenship retroactively stripped away under a new law?
As mentioned, the Constitutional Court previously set this issue aside in an earlier proceeding, but the Court of Avellino specifically cites a recent case involving four minors born in Brazil between 2010 and 2025 whose parents received Italian citizenship jure sanguinis via the court system. The municipality refused to register the minors’ birth certificates, though, citing Article 3-bis. More specifically, the fact that individual cases are not being assessed but rather the law is being applied generically, is the issue.
What this could mean going forward
In light of this referral, the CJEU is being asked to broaden its considerations regarding Article 3-bis and the Tajani as an amendment to Law 91/1992 . The Tajani Decree and Article 3-bis are still in force; however, given the evidence we have seen, there are challenges on many fronts. Here at ItalianCitizenshipAssistance.com, we will keep you up-to-date with all the latest proceedings.
Conclusion
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