The analysis

Civil justice time, the target will have to be renegotiated with the EU

In five years the cut in disposition time was half the target: very complex to close the gap

12 May 2025

2' min read

The Pnrr monitoring published by the Ministry of Justice reveals some positive notes and some, unfortunately, negative ones.

Let us start with the positive notes. The intermediate target to be achieved by December 2024 concerning the reduction of the backlog, as renegotiated by the government with the European Commission in November 2023 (-95% of civil proceedings registered up to 2016 in the courts and up to 2017 in the courts of appeal) was achieved in the courts (-99.4%) and, "within the limits of acceptance", so says the ministerial report, in the courts (-93.2%).

The renegotiation of the original targets, which referred to the Pinto backlog, was salvific. The previous intermediate targets would never have been reached, neither by the courts (at the end of 2024 they were at -37.9%, instead of the planned -65%), nor by the courts of appeal (which reached -45.5% instead of -55%).

Looking ahead to June 2026, it can be assumed that the new backlog reduction targets will be met, at least 'within the limits of the Commission's acceptance',

Another positive aspect concerns the disposition time (DT) of criminal proceedings: in June 2026 it is expected to be 25 per cent lower than in 2019, but it already shows a decrease of 28 per cent.

Let us turn to the negative notes. The target of reducing the disposition time of civil proceedings by 40 per cent by June 2026, considering all three levels of judgement, is far away.

By December 2024, the total reduction was 20.1%, mainly thanks to the Supreme Court. The courts of appeal and the courts did much less well. If in five years the reduction in disposition time washalf of the target, it will be complex to achieve the same by June 2026.

There is little time to imagine organisational interventions. The only viable solution appears to be to reopen a dialogue with the European Commission to renegotiate this objective as well.

Moreover, comparing 2019 with 2024, the data at national level show that civil proceedings settled in both courts of law (-8.4 per cent) and courts of appeal (-24.7 per cent) have decreased; the exception is the Supreme Court of Cassation, which shows a +3.4 per cent increase. The considerable investments in human and organisational resources that led to the establishment of the trial office do not seem to have made a significant contribution to the increase in settlements to date.

Intolerable differences remain at the territorial level, with civil courts having a disposition time over a thousand days and others around 200 days. This poses considerable problems with respect to the cardinal principle of equality of treatment and a 'justice service' that should begin to consider Essential Levels of Jurisdiction, similar to the Essential Levels of Care provided in the health sector.

Despite the investments, the underlying problem of a poorly functioning and patchy judicial system unfortunately remains, which should not only look at the achievement of the NRP targets but at its overall improvement.

*Research Executive of the National Research Council