The Constitutional Court of Italy declared partially unfounded and partially inadmissible The questions of constitutional legitimacy raised against Decree-Law No. 36 of 2025, which deals with Italian citizenship.
The challenge had been raised by the Court of Turin and targeted Article 1 of the decree, which was later converted into Law No. 74 of 2025.
The decision was announced 24 hours after the hearing, in official statement this Thursday, March 12, 2026.
The sentence will be published later.
Despite the official statement, the Court has not yet released the full reasoning behind its decision.
The publication of the sentence may take a few weeks.
Without this document, it is not yet possible to analyze in detail the arguments used by the Court to reject the issues presented by the Turin Court.
Further cases will be analyzed in June.
The topic will be reviewed again by Constitutional CourtA new hearing is scheduled for June 9, 2026.
On that date, other challenges to the decree will be analyzed, including the case presented by the Court of Mantua.
Cases originating from Campobasso may also be evaluated, although a hearing date has not yet been set.
These cases have a broader scope and do not present the same procedural issues raised in the Turin case.
What does the decree say?
The decree establishes new rules for the recognition of Italian citizenship by descent.
The rule stipulates that anyone born abroad, even before the rule came into effect, and who holds another citizenship, is considered not to have acquired Italian citizenship.
There are exceptions provided for in the law itself.
The rule does not apply when recognition of citizenship was requested before 23:59 PM on March 27, 2025.
Also excluded are cases in which one of the parents or grandparents exclusively held Italian citizenship, including at the time of death.
Another exception occurs when one of the parents or adoptive parents has resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the birth or adoption of the child.
Questions raised by the Turin Court
The Turin Court questioned the constitutionality of the rule based on Article 3 of the Italian Constitution.
According to the court, there could be arbitrariness in distinguishing between citizenship recognition requests made before and after March 28, 2025.
It was also pointed out that there might be a violation of acquired rights, on the grounds that the rule would represent an implicit revocation of citizenship with retroactive effects.
The Constitutional Court rejected these allegations and declared the accusations unfounded.
International Trading
The claim of violation of Article 9 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which establish Union citizenship for those who hold citizenship of a Member State, was also rejected.
Other questions were deemed inadmissible.
Among them is the alleged violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates that no one may be arbitrarily deprived of their citizenship.
The claim of violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, according to which no one may be deprived of the right to enter the territory of the State of which he is a citizen, was also deemed inadmissible.
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