The Constitutional Court of Italy issued a decision on Thursday (31) that concerns the process of citizenship, which has been up since the promulgation of the Government’s decree limiting the recognition of the law.
This week’s opinion, however, reaches only cases prior to the new legislation No. 36/2025 of March. In the decision, the magistrates have rejected requests from some courts who filed the action to block cases that are processed in Italy and have been stopped for months.
Milan Courts, Florence, Rome and Bologna requested a position of the Constitutional Court before the publication of the Government’s Government Decree Giorgia Meloni, arguing that the absence of a generational limit to request Italian citizenship was hurting a real bond between the state and the citizen.
According to the applicants, “millions” of foreigners who enter the process do not even have an “effective connection” with Italy. The courts that requested the opinion cited “special” cases, such as Brazil and Uruguay, “that bear an uninterrupted lineage of Italian citizens.”
Despite the arguments presented, the Constitutional Court concluded that the requests are dismissed, based on the country’s legislative precepts before the decree, which established that citizenship blood (by blood) had no generational limit.
“Despite this context, the Italian legal system is among the few that has not imposed limits to the recognition of citizenship for descent or blood“Justified the maximum court of constitutional law of Italy.
The Court considered that the arguments presented by the lower courts were not viable, since decisions that restricted the granting of Italian citizenship would violate something that is the responsibility of the Legislative Power, Parliament, and not the judiciary.
Italy granted its nationality following the principle of blood (Blood Right) No generation limit. With the new legislation, the granting of the document will be limited to two generations, ie children and grandchildren of Italians.
Decision reaches new rules regarding Italian citizenship?
The understanding expressed by the Constitutional Court on Thursday does not concern the requests made after the Meloni Government decree, presented in March.
Therefore, initially, the opinion only changes the reality of citizenship applicants who were with the processes stopped in the Italian courts, without assessing the legitimacy and constitutionality of the new measure.
On the other hand, new actions can be opened at the Constitutional Court related to the requests for Italian citizenship of people who started the process after March 27 this year.
The Constitutional Court of Italy, the Italian Maximum Court of Constitutional Law, evaluates in its analyzes whether the law and its applications are consistent with what is provided in the constitutional text. Read the decision here.
