The applicant was born in Italy to parents born in former Yugoslavia. His stateless status was denied on the basis that he did not make enough efforts to be recognised as a national of either Italy, Croatia or Macedonia.
Article 1 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
The applicant was born in 1982 in Naples (Italy) to parents from former Yugoslavia. His mother was born on the territory of contemporary Croatia, and his father - on the territory of contemporary Macedonia.
The applicant argued that the contested decision wrongly states that he was born in Zagreb (Croatia), while he was actually born in Naples (Italy), as well as that his name is not represented correctly.
The OFPRA argued that the applicant's place of birth or exact name are not relevant, as the status of stateless person was refused to him on the basis that he did not take steps to obtain a nationality from from one of the countries of the former Yugoslavia where his parents were born.
The Court upheld the administrative decision, and reasoned as follows:
"Considering, on the other hand, that even though the applicant submitted a letter from the municipality of Naples addressed to an Italian consulate in France indicating that the applicant is not registered in the civil registry of residents of Naples municipality where he happens to have been born, such letter does not establish that the person concerned could not be an Italian national; that if if he has approached the Croatian consular authorities, their alleged lack of response does not in itself establish that the applicant could not access Croatian nationality; that finally he does not even claim to have approached the Macedonian consular authorities; that, under these circumstances, by refusing to recognise him as a stateless person OFPRA did not disregard the provisions of article 1 of the New York convention of September 28, 1954 relating to the status stateless persons."
The Court upheld OFPRA's decision to refuse the stateless status.