Outdated judgements disposed of, but the slopes are uphill

While on the disposition time of civil cases the Pnrr target appears difficult to achieve, the judicial offices are on the right track to hit the targets for cutting the civil backlog. Indeed, a first intermediate target, which expired on 31 December last year, has already been substantially achieved. And the ministry is also looking optimistically at the final target, set for 30 June 2026.

However, if we look beyond the proceedings and offices assessed for Pnrr purposes and consider the pending cases (not only the backlog, i.e. the oldest ones), we discover that, after having fallen for 12 consecutive years, in 2024 they increased compared to 2023: both in the courts and, above all, at the justices of the peace. It is an element that signals an overall situation of justice fatigue, even beyond the Pnrr targets.

But let us go in order. In addition to the target of reducing disposition time by 40 per cent, targets for civil justice were set with the Pnrr concerning the elimination of the backlog, which were renegotiated in 2023 by circumscribing the scope of intervention. The new targets envisage: by 31 December 2024, a 95 per cent cut in the backlog of pending cases at the end of 2019 registered up to 31 December 2016 for the courts and up to 31 December 2017 for the Courts of Appeal; and by 30 June 2026, a 90 per cent cut in the backlog of pending cases at 31 December 2022 registered from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2022 for the courts and from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2022 for the Courts of Appeal.

The latest report on the statistical monitoring of Pnrr indicators certifies that the intermediate disposal of 95 per cent has in practice been achieved: in the Courts of Appeal the backlog has been cut by 99.4 per cent and in the courts by 93.2 per cent. With regard to the 2026 target, at the end of last year there was a 73.3 per cent reduction in the courts and 70.5 per cent in the courts of appeal. So much so that, reads the ministerial report, 'if the capacity to settle cases per year of registration maintains the same trend as observed in 2024 (...), the target appears achievable for both courts of appeal and courts'.

While the Pnrr backlog is falling, pending civil cases are increasing. This is revealed by the national monitoring, also compiled by the Ministry of Justice, which examines all pending proceedings before all Italian judicial offices: Court of Cassation, courts of appeal, ordinary courts, justices of the peace and juvenile courts. Only proceedings of the tutelary judge, preventive technical assessment proceedings in social security matters and the receipt and recording of affidavits are excluded. The radius is therefore wider than that of the Pnrr.