The new security decree and the attorneys' fees:

Translated by Silvia Toro

 Under Article 77 of the Constitution, our legal system allows the Government to issue decrees having the force of law in cases of necessity and urgency; if these decrees are not converted into law by Parliament within 60 days of their issuance, they cease to be effective. It was precisely a decree of this kind that was the focus of public debate in April.

Decree-Law No. 23 of February 24, 2026, containing “Urgent provisions regarding public safety, investigative activities by judicial authorities in cases where there are grounds for justification, the operations of the police and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as immigration and international protection,” addressed a range of issues, introducing new crimes and regulations related to public safety, among other matters.

In fact, during the Senate’s review of the decree-law, an amendment—Article 30-bis—was introduced, which has become the subject of public debate. The provision amends the 1998 Consolidated Law on Immigration in the section governing assisted voluntary return programs: a mechanism already present in Italian law that allows foreign nationals to return to their home countries with financial support from the Italian government.

The change introduced by the amendment would consist of a financial compensation for the attorney who assisted the migrant in filing the application for voluntary return. The amount, which according to some estimates would be around 615 euros, was based on the “basic needs” allowance already provided to the migrant. However, the aspect that has drawn the harshest criticism is another: the compensation is to be paid “upon the foreign national’s departure,” meaning the lawyer would receive the payment only after the repatriation has taken place. The government has allocated 246,000 euros for 2026 and 492,000 euros annually for 2027 and 2028, estimating approximately 800 repatriations per year based on data from the previous three-year period.

The response from the legal profession and the judiciary was immediate and unanimous. TheNational Bar Council publicly distanced itself from the provision, stating that it had never been informed or consulted during the parliamentary process, and called on Parliament to remove any reference to its role in the payment of fees. The Union of Italian Criminal Chambers has deemed the measure incompatible with the Constitution and with legal ethics, arguing that a defense attorney should be an autonomous and independent professional, as established by law. The National Magistrates Association has expressed dismay, noting that rewarding the failure of the defense contradicts the very concept of defense.

With the 60-day deadline set for April 25, 2026, the decree reached the Chamber of Deputies just as the deadline expired. President Sergio Mattarella expressed his concerns about the bill to Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano during a meeting at the Quirinale. The opposition parties have called for a suspension of committee proceedings.

On April 24, 2026, the Chamber of Deputies approved the conversion of the security decree into law. At the same time, during a council of ministers that lasted only a few minutes, the government drafted an amending decree aimed at addressing the concerns raised by the Quirinale. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni explained that amending the text in Parliament after it had been converted into law would have risked the decree lapsing due to the expiration of the deadline, and that it was therefore decided to proceed with an additional corrective decree-law.

The amending decree modified the bill, extending compensation not only to attorneys but to any person who assisted the migrant in submitting an application for voluntary repatriation. Furthermore, payment of the sum is no longer contingent upon the migrant’s actual departure, but rather upon the conclusion of the administrative proceedings. Finally, the sections of the text that designated the National Bar Council as the body responsible for managing and distributing compensation were removed, a role that the CNF had explicitly refused.

The Security Decree has touched on issues that intersect with matters of constitutional significance. The repeated use of emergency measures to regulate matters on which Parliament has not yet legislated, and the subsequent corrective action taken against a law that had just been approved, have reignited a long-standing debate on the balance of state powers and the role of the primary source of law in our legal system.

Furthermore, lawyers are autonomous professionals independent of the executive branch: making their compensation contingent on the outcome desired by the executive would, in part, transform them into state officials. The corrective decree has mitigated the most obvious concerns raised, but questions regarding the relationship between the current executive’s migration policies and the profession’s autonomy remain unresolved, certainly until the corrective decree is converted into law.

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