Court of Justice of the European Union to Rule on Italian Citizenship by Descent

Italy sent shockwaves through its global diaspora in March 2025 when the government introduced a sweeping new law which placed a strict two-generation cap on citizenship by descent. Overnight, millions of descendants around the world — many of whom had already spent thousands of dollars on family research and legal fees — saw their path to a European passport completely blocked.

But following an apparent judicial U-turn this week, the high-stakes battle to overturn the controversial legislation has officially restarted. Initially, Italy’s Constitutional Court upheld the strict law, known as L74/2025, leaving applicants devastated as hundreds of lawsuits challenging the ban were dismissed. However, after re-scrutinizing the legislation, the court performed an about-face. It has now suspended the latest challenges to the law from regional Italian judges and officially referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union to determine if Italy broke European legal rules.

A 180-Degree Change of Direction in the CJEU Referral

“It’s a 180-degree change of direction,” Marco Mellone, one of four attorneys who fought the law in the latest June hearing, told CNN. “It’s a confession that they made a mistake in March.”

“I didn’t expect it because we’d requested a referral in the previous hearing but the court denied it,” said Corrado Caruso, a law professor at Bologna University, who also argued in court. “So it’s a positive step because it means the court has some doubts. I think there was a change of mind.”

Attorney Monica Restanio, who also argued the case, called it “the best news that we could have got, and much better than what I was expecting… they are putting everything back in play.”

Even though the Italian court claims it still believes the law complies with EU rules, Mellone views the move as a quiet admission of a past mistake. Past European rulings have firmly established that citizenship cannot be stripped away without warning, disproportionately, or without due process.

The Legal Question Before the Court of Justice of the European Union

Italy’s Constitutional Court made public Thursday a June 9 order suspending proceedings challenging a law that restricted recognition of Italian citizenship by descent and referring the dispute to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Law 74/2025, known as the Tajani Decree, was adopted by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government in March 2025 and later approved by Parliament. It ended the previous system, which imposed no generational limit, and required applicants to demonstrate closer ties to Italy.

The decision marks a shift from the position the same court adopted in April. At the time, the judges rejected a similar request to refer the matter to the European court and said existing case law was sufficient to conclude the legislation did not violate EU rules. In the order published Thursday, the Constitutional Court considered new challenges raised by courts in Mantua and Campobasso, suspended the proceedings and sent the question to Luxembourg.

The central question is whether Article 3-bis complies with EU law when it treats people born abroad, including before the law took effect, as never having acquired Italian citizenship unless they fall within exceptions established under the new rules.

Global Implications for European Union Citizenship and the Italian Diaspora

The case has particular significance in Brazil, home to the largest community of Italian descendants outside Italy, estimated at 30 million people. For decades, Brazilians with more distant Italian ancestry could seek recognition of citizenship through administrative proceedings or lawsuits. The new order does not strike down the law or automatically suspend all pending citizenship cases. Law 74/2025 remains in effect, and individual judges will decide whether to proceed with or pause similar cases while awaiting a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union.

In a separate ruling in May, the Court of Cassation, which is responsible for ensuring consistent interpretation of Italian law, held people seeking recognition of citizenship must still navigate the current restrictions while the CJEU deliberates.

A Prediction Fulfilled

A study published in 2024, and translated in full by Insieme Magazine, anticipated the very questions that the Constitutional Court has now referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Two years before the Italian Constitutional Court decided to refer to the CJEU the issue of the new restrictions imposed on iure sanguinis citizenship, jurist Marco Mellone had already argued that a reform of this nature would inevitably go beyond the boundaries of Italian domestic law and enter the sphere of European Union law.

The analysis was published in 2024 in the legal journal Eurojus and, shortly thereafter, translated and published in full by Insieme Magazine, at a time when the Tajani Decree did not yet exist and citizenship reform was still confined to legislative proposals. In that study, Mellone examined the effects that a possible restriction on the recognition of Italian citizenship would have on European Union citizenship and warned that the issue would hardly remain confined to the Italian courts.

“Italian citizenship legislation can no longer be regarded as a purely domestic matter,” the jurist wrote. The reason, he continued, is simple: “Italian citizenship also constitutes the legal title granting access to the status of citizen of the Union.” Consequently, any national reform limiting that right may be subject to review under European Union law.

Within little more than two years, academic reflection became a concrete legal issue. In Order No. 147/2026, published this Thursday (23), the Italian Constitutional Court decided to suspend proceedings concerning Article 3-bis of Law No. 91/1992 and referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union the question of whether the new citizenship restrictions comply with EU law.

What Happens Next

The CJEU will now examine whether Italy’s retroactive application of the two-generation cap violates fundamental principles of EU citizenship. The court’s ruling could set a precedent for how member states balance national sovereignty over citizenship with the rights conferred by European Union citizenship. For the millions of Italian descendants in Brazil, Argentina, the United States, and elsewhere, the outcome will determine whether their decades-long pursuit of an Italian passport can continue.

For now, the law remains in effect, and individual judges will decide whether to proceed with or pause similar cases while awaiting a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union. The CJEU’s decision, expected within the next 12 to 18 months, could reshape the landscape of citizenship by descent across Europe.