Pnrr

Justice decree, first yes in the Chamber but all critical issues remain unresolved

The text now goes to the Senate, but for the oppositions these are useless regulations. Little appeal for remote applications. More time in the Court of Appeal

by Giovanni Negri

25 September 2025

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Passed by the Chamber of Deputies, and now the text will go to the Senate for a vote that must arrive by 7 October, the decree-law with the package of measures to try to approach the goal of reducing the duration of lawsuits to the extent of 40% in the three levels of judgment. An ambitious goal, also central to the latest agreements with the European Commission in the context of the recognition of Pnrr funds, but one that is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve, especially considering the short time available (June 2026).

Already one of the measure's crucial interventions, the possibility of remote deployment of up to 500 experienced judges in the civil sector, to be incentivised both economically (about 12.000 euro gross) and career, to settle at least 50 cases each, proved to be anything but a success: if not a declared hostility, the proposal met with at least a substantial lack of interest on the part of the judiciary,so much so that only 212 responded to the Csm's call.

Also not filled, and this is another of the measures of the decree law, were four posts out of the twenty available for transfers to the Court of Appeal, but on this front the latest version of the decree tries to remedy this by reopening the terms of the interpello.

A critical situation that has the opposition arguing that the measure is clearly useless, from the PD leader of Justice Deborah Serracchiani, 'a patch worse than the hole', to Roberto Giachetti of Italia Viva, 'a decree-sòla'.

Other applications

The text actually also contains numerous regulations of less problematic application. From the extraordinary application of the maximum counsels for the decision of civil appeals in the Supreme Court to the possibility of using justices of the peace to deputise for professional judges even when gaps emerge in the staff of togati. Introduced in committee the possibility of opting for the exclusive regime for honorary magistrates also in the year of entry into office.

There is also provision for the power of the heads of the offices identified by the SJC in relation to the failure to achieve the objective of reducing the length of trials imposed by the NPRP, to carry out work reorganisation interventions within the office, through a revision of the assignment criteria and also reassignment interventions, for cases of delays of individuals or imbalances between workloads. The provisions on the apprenticeship of ordinary magistrates declared successful in the competition announced in October 2023 have also been revised, to allow for earlier operation.

Debt from 2026

Two postponements then for two key appointments of the future jurisdiction: the debut of the new Tribunal for Persons, Juveniles and Families will be 18 October 2026 and the new package of competences of the justices of the peace will start on 31 October 2026, while the new prerogatives of the justice of the peace in matters of platelets (for example, contracts concluded by a notary allowing the transfer of ownership of a property for which a bank has granted financing guaranteed by a mortgage) will be abolished.