A sentenca de Palermo (editada)

Palermo Court Ruling Opens New Debate on Descendants Harmed by Consular Queues, Says Lawyer Carlo Pontei The expert who worked on the case states that the decision recognizes the protection of those who proved they had concretely begun the process of obtaining citizenship before the reform, but warns that each situation will continue to depend on an individual analysis of the evidence. The ruling by the Palermo Court, which recognized the right to Italian citizenship for a descendant even after the entry into force of the reform promoted by Law No. 74/2025, has become one of the most relevant decisions in recent months because it addresses one of the most sensitive issues that arose after the legislative change: the situation of those who were unable to submit their application before March 27, 2025, because they remained stuck in the long queues at Italian consulates. Although the lawsuit was filed after the reform, the judge concluded that the applicant could not be penalized for the delays of the public administration itself. The applicant had already been on the waiting list at the Italian Consulate in New York for about two years, and therefore the court applied the previous legislation, disregarding the restrictions introduced by the new law. In an interview with Revista Insieme, lawyer Carlo Pontei, responsible for the case, explains why he considers the decision an important milestone, while avoiding any triumphalist interpretation. According to him, the ruling does not create an automatic right for all descendants affected by consular waiting lists, but inaugurates a new field of legal discussion that should be developed by jurisprudence in the coming months. In Pontei's assessment, until recently the analysis seemed limited to an objective question: had the judicial or administrative request been submitted before or after the reform came into effect? ​​The Palermo decision, however, shifts the focus to a broader question: why was that descendant unable to submit their claim earlier? If the impossibility stemmed from failures of the public administration itself—and not from the applicant's will—the situation deserves different treatment.