EU Court of Justice May Rule on Retroactive Italian Citizenship

TITLE: Italian citizenship reform and the retroactivity debate may reach European courts

According to a report by Insieme, there is reportedly an attempt to bring before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), based in Luxembourg, the discussion of whether Italy can declare that descendants born abroad before the 2025 reform "never acquired" Italian citizenship. To date, there is no independent confirmation of a case number, procedural deadlines, or specific court rulings mentioned in the original report, so this article addresses the topic with the appropriate caveats.

What would be under discussion

The potential CJEU review would address whether European Union law allows a member state to rewrite, years later, the legal status of people who were born with a right to citizenship by descent (jure sanguinis), now treating them as if that right had never existed.

According to the Insieme report, there is reportedly a preliminary ruling request underway — a mechanism through which national courts consult the CJEU on the interpretation of EU law — but the specific procedural details (such as the case number and deadlines) could not be independently verified as of this article's publication.

The case reportedly reached Luxembourg after Italian courts, while ruling on specific citizenship recognition cases, identified a possible incompatibility between the new Italian legislation and principles of European Union law, such as freedom of movement and the protection of vested rights. To follow developments in this case and other changes affecting those seeking Italian Citizenship, the Raízes Italianas portal continues to monitor decisions from Italian and European courts.

The origin of the legal conflict

The central point of the dispute is Article 3-bis of Law 91/1992, added by the 2025 reform (Decreto Tajani, converted into Law 74/2025). The provision states that people born abroad who hold another nationality are considered, for legal purposes, as if they had never acquired Italian citizenship — except in specific situations provided for under the law's own exceptions.

In practice, this means that descendants who, under the rules in effect until then, would be recognized as Italian citizens by bloodline are now treated as if that status had never existed, even though they were born before the change in the law. It is important to note that this retroactivity does not apply only to cases already in progress at the time the decree took effect — which remain protected under the law's own text — but to the substantive right itself, which the new rule treats as if it had never existed since the person's birth.

There are reports, not yet fully confirmed independently, that some Italian courts of first instance have interpreted this provision as effectively amounting to a retroactive revocation of a right already acquired at birth — rather than merely a change in the rules for the future. For these judges, stripping away a right a person has held since birth raises serious concerns about legal certainty and the protection of already-settled situations.

According to the same report, the Corte Costituzionale (Italy's Constitutional Court, not to be confused with the Corte di Cassazione) has reportedly taken a different view, treating the issue not as the loss of citizenship already held, but as an "original preclusion to acquisition" — meaning the new law would not be taking away something that existed, but rather establishing, from the outset, that the person never met the requirements to acquire citizenship in the first place. The specific ruling number could not be independently confirmed.

Specific cases mentioned in the original report

The Insieme report mentions the existence of specific cases involving Brazilian descendants affected by the new rule, including situations in which part of a family had already obtained judicial recognition of citizenship before the reform, while other family members would now fall under the rule treating them as having never acquired Italian nationality. Since the specific details of these cases (courts, dates, and parties involved) could not be independently verified, they are not reproduced here as confirmed facts.

Situations like these have been closely followed by those working in searching for civil records in Italy, a fundamental step in preparing recognition applications, and have also raised questions about the real scope of the decree's effects on pending applications.

What's at stake for descendants

At the heart of the debate is the concept of the "genuine link" — the effective connection between a citizen and the state from which they claim nationality. This discussion is not new in international law, but it takes on specific significance in the Italian case given the attempt to apply this criterion retroactively to people born decades before the reform.

Should the case indeed reach the CJEU and be ruled on, a decision unfavorable to Italy could, in theory, have binding effect and influence how Italian courts apply Article 3-bis in similar cases. However, until concrete details about the procedural status are confirmed, these possibilities remain speculative.

For descendants of Italians in Brazil who have judicial or administrative citizenship recognition proceedings underway, it is recommended to seek specific legal guidance and verify official sources before making decisions based on news about alleged rulings that have not yet been independently confirmed.

Raízes Italianas will continue to follow this topic in the News from Italy section, as well as other subjects affecting the lives of Brazilians with Italian roots in the Life in Italy section.

Want to know if you're eligible for Italian citizenship? Talk to a specialized advisory service.

Source: Insieme