Luxembourg Effect: Italian court postpones citizenship ruling

An Italian court has decided to suspend judgment in a citizenship by descent case until the European Court of Justice rules on the validity of the reform that restricted the right to recognition by jure sanguinis. The decision, made in Catanzaro, is one of the first concrete signs of how the so-called "Luxembourg effect" is already beginning to impact the routine of Italian courts.

What happened in Catanzaro

A judge of the Catanzaro Court, in southern Italy, decided to postpone until June 2027 the judgment of a Italian citizenship case filed after the entry into force of the reform promoted by Decreto Tajani (DL 36/2025, converted into Lei 74/2025), according to a report by Insieme.

The magistrate chose to suspend analysis of the case pending the position of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), based in Luxemburgo, on the compatibility of the new Italian legislation with European Union standards. In practice, the case remains suspended for nearly a year, with no hearing date before the set deadline.

The measure draws attention because it reveals that Italian first-instance judges already recognize that a future CJEU decision may directly alter the outcome of actions for Italian citizenship recognition currently pending in Italy.

Why the European decision is 'determinative'

The center of the issue is case C-816/26, currently under review by the CJEU. The case reached Luxemburgo through a referral made by the Italian Constitutional Court (Corte Costituzionale), which raised concerns about aspects of the 2025 citizenship reform in light of European law.

According to Insieme, the Catanzaro judge explicitly stated that the CJEU's response will be determinative for the judgment of the case pending in her court. This means the magistrate understands that it is not possible to decide safely on the concrete case without first knowing how the European Court of Justice will rule on the validity of the restrictions imposed by the new law.

It is important to note that the Italian Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation are distinct bodies with different functions within the Italian judicial system. The referral to the CJEU came from the Corte Costituzionale, which is responsible for assessing the constitutionality of laws, while it falls to the Cassazione, through the Sezioni Unite, to standardize the interpretation of legislation for all judges in the country.

What experts say

Attorney Marco Mellone, cited by Insieme, assesses that this type of postponement can have a relevant side effect: to reduce, at least temporarily, the sequence of unfavorable decisions for descendants seeking citizenship recognition through the judicial process.

According to this interpretation, courts that decide to follow Catanzaro's example and suspend their judgments while awaiting the CJEU's ruling would avoid producing negative sentences based on a law whose validity is still being questioned at the European level. This does not mean that the actions would begin to be judged favorably, but that some of them may simply remain suspended, without movement, until the legal scenario becomes clear.

What this means for descendants in Brazil

For Brazilians descended from Italians, the Catanzaro case is further evidence that the dispute surrounding the 2025 reform is far from resolved. Thousands of Italian citizenship recognition cases remain stalled in courts throughout Italy, awaiting a determination on the validity of the restrictions imposed by Decreto Tajani — among them, the end of the possibility for great-grandchildren and later generations to request citizenship through the consular process.

The outcome of case C-816/26 in Luxemburgo could become a watershed moment: if the CJEU finds that the Italian reform violates European standards, future legal actions may once again have better chances of success. Otherwise, the trend is that Italian courts will continue to apply the restrictions of the new law to cases filed after 2025.

While the European decision remains pending, experts recommend that descendants interested in recognizing Italian citizenship inform themselves about the specific situation of their case, since cases filed before the decree's entry into force have protections provided in the law's text itself. Those who have not yet initiated the process can seek guidance on searching for certificates in Italy and the necessary documentation, even in light of the legal uncertainty scenario.

Raízes Italianas continues to monitor developments in the case before Italian and European courts. More updates on the topic can be found in the Italy News section and in content about Life in Italy.

Given the complexity of the scenario created by the 2025 reform and the pending judgment before the European Court of Justice, guidance from a specialized Italian citizenship consultancy can help descendants understand the most appropriate time to file their cases.

Do you want to know if you have a right to Italian citizenship? Talk to a specialized consultancy.

Source: Insieme