On June 9th, 2026, Italy’s Constitutional Court held its second hearing for arguments raised against the constitutional compliance of the 2025 Tajani Decree. While there was an intersection with the recent March 11th hearing, some of the arguments were different and focused on the Tajani Decree more broadly, and its compliance under EU law. Below, we lay out the arguments covered, and why it is promising that the Tajani Decree continues to be challenged, especially given recent rulings from other courts.
A recap on the March 11th hearing
On March 11th, 2026, the Constitutional Court held a hearing for arguments raised by the Court of Turin. While it chose to uphold the Tajani Decree for now, Section 9.1 of the court’s official statement left a promising gray area. The court recognized two categories of potential applicants: those who had secured a citizenship appointment before the decree (who were protected under it), and those who tried in good faith to secure an appointment but were blocked to administrative failures on the part of Italian consulates. This latter group of people was acknowledged by the Constitutional Court, but they could not rule on their status because the issue was not among the ones that had been presented to it, leaving a possible opening for such people to still claim citizenship under the old rules. In fact, a case earlier this year demonstrates already that some have been successful in obtaining citizenship under the old rules by providing proof that they had attempted multiple times to make an appointment before the Tajani Decree.
The Courts of Mantova’s and Campobasso’s arguments
The arguments that the Constitutional Court heard on June 9th presented by the Courts of Mantova and Campobasso, consisted of the following:
- Equality: the different treatment of persons with the same Italian ancestry based on timing
- The inherent status of Italian citizenship by birth
- Compliance with European Union law
- The retroactive application
- The necessity of the emergency decree-law action
- The penalization of those who attempted in good faith to secure an appointment
As a counter, the Italian government argued that the new law does not retroactively revoke citizenship but instead redefines citizenship criteria. The government also maintains that those who took action to have their citizenship recognized are already protected.
Whether or not the Constitutional Court decides that the criteria for citizenship recognition arbitrarily took away an inherent status or not will primarily determine their decision.
How long until a decision is made?
At the time of writing, the Constitutional Court has not issued a decision. This could come within a few days to a few months, and will not necessarily be as swift as the March hearing. The court might also wait until the Supreme Court of Cassation issues a decision from its April 14th hearing regarding citizenship for minors, more specifically the “minor issue”, whether or not the foreign-born minor of the Italian-born ancestor lost citizenship when the ancestor lost citizenship.
The Court of Cassation’s recent ruling
Significantly, back May, the Court of Cassation ruled positively in favor of those who had attempted to obtain a citizenship appointment but were blocked due to administrative issues. While this particular case was not related to the Tajani Decree, the fundamental principle remained the same: hopeful applicants who had tried numerous times to secure an appointment, but were unsuccessful due to no fault of their own, could take their case directly to the Italian courts. Their reasoning was that citizenship jure sanguinis was an inherent right that could not be taken away.
While the Court of Cassation and Constitutional Court rule independently, the fact that this positive ruling was made from a higher court provides hope for future related rulings.
Italian Citizenship Assistance can help
If you would like your case for citizenship analyzed, or have further questions related to relocating to Italy, Italian Citizenship Assistance is here to help! We’ll keep you updated on all the latest news regarding Italian immigration. You can also get in touch directly at [email protected].
