A National Association of Magistrates of Italy (ANM) [He] formally requested a hearing with the European Commission in Brussels to warn about the risk of collapse of the Italian justice system. The crisis directly affects international protection processes and applications for recognition of Italian citizenship by descent, many of which originate from South America.
The warning is contained in a note sent to the press this Sunday (19)In a document detailing the effects of the overburdened judicial system, the ANM, which represents 9.149 of the 9.657 active magistrates in the country, states that the situation is "alarming" and requests that the European Commission authorize a hearing to address the issue.
According to the text, published by Agenzia Opinione"Italian courts are facing an impressive backlog of pending international protection and citizenship cases, with very long average processing times, lacking information and coordination from the Government, as part of the implementation of the Asylum and Migration Pact."
The ANM also points out that "in addition to facing coordination problems at the administrative level, the Italian judiciary has not received any information from the Government about the strategies for implementing the Pact and about the Courts that will be impacted by thousands of border procedures."
Progress halted.
According to the note, the Ufficio per il Processo (UPP) It was created as the main instrument for modernizing the Justice system within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR)With it, the aim was to reorganize the courts into a team-based work model. The measure resulted in the hiring of 10 employees, who began to directly support the work of the judges.
"The central instrument for achieving the objectives of the PNRR was identified, by mutual agreement between the Italian Government and the European Commission, in..." Office for the Process”, says the ANM.
The organization cites that the average processing time for criminal cases across all three levels of jurisdiction has decreased by 25%, anticipating the target set for 2026. The case resolution rate (clearance rate) It also remained high, with Italy leading the European ranking.
However, the goal of reducing civil proceedings by 40% is threatened. "The prospective duration of first-instance proceedings has decreased from 556 days in 2019 to 458 days on June 30, 2025," a figure still higher than the European Union average. According to the report, this slowdown is due to external factors, such as the unexpected increase in new cases.
Italian citizenship in jeopardy
The document highlights that the Specialized Immigration and Citizenship Sections have faced a disproportionate overload since 2022. "They have been overwhelmed by a disproportionate number of procedures for recognition of Italian citizenship by descent, initiated by residents abroad – mostly in South America – who are descendants of Italian ancestors."
According to the ANM, "this demand results from the inefficiency of the Public Administration, which does not respond to administrative requests for recognition of the right and forces applicants to go directly to the Courts."
The report states that, between 2022 and 2024, there was an annual average of 32.154 new citizenship applications, compared to only 7.760 in the previous three-year period. The productivity of the sections increased by 40%, but this was not enough to contain the backlog of pending cases.
Explosion in asylum processes
The ANM also states that international protection processes have grown "tumultuously" since 2022. The number of new cases jumped from 29.011 that year to 62.780 in 2024. The negative decisions of the territorial commissions, "almost all of which are appealable," caused an immediate overload in the courts.
“The number of pending cases in the Specialized Sections increased from 66.618 at the end of 2023 to 119.925 in September 2025,” the note states. The average decision time rose to 1.194 days. Under European law, the deadline should be 120 days.
The ANM warns that, with the current stock alone, the Judiciary could receive an additional 186 new cases of international protection. "This is a timeframe that is expected to increase progressively," the document states.
Announced collapse
The note sent out this Sunday also draws attention to the structural risk of collapse of the Justice systemThe continued employment of the 10 UPP employees was a commitment made by the Italian government to the European Union. However, according to the ANM (National Mining Agency), "until January 2026, less than six months before the end of the project, no call for applications has been published regarding the job security of these employees."
According to the official report cited in the text, "the number of personnel actually on duty has been reduced to 8.930 units." The lack of prospects led to the dismissal of some of the most qualified staff.
The association warns: "Italian judges and courts run the real risk of having fewer human resources by June 2026 than they had before the start of the PNRR."
The impact would be immediate on the functioning of the courts and on the continuity of the reforms already underway. "The teamwork method is at risk of being abandoned, as are the advances in eliminating backlogs and reducing the average processing time."
Request for a hearing in Brussels
Given the situation, the ANM formally requested a hearing with the European CommissionAs reported in the note: "This is an alarming situation, which the National Association of Magistrates kindly requests be illustrated in a hearing before the European Commission."
The organization concludes that failure to stabilize the UPP could compromise "not only the functioning of the national justice system, but also the European Union's confidence in Italian institutions."
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