The Looming Italian Citizenship Referendum: A Government's Stand Against Easier Citizenship
"Italy's administration abstains from overseeing questionable citizenship ballot"
Here we are, folks, just a few weeks away from Italy's crucial referendum on streamlining the process for residency-based citizenship. The stakes are high, but key figures in Italy's right-wing government are telling their supporters to sit this one out.
This referendum aims to reduce the current wait time for citizenship from 10 to 5 years. However, the quorum or threshold to validate this vote is over 50% turnout. Given the recent trends, reaching this quota isn't looking likely - only four out of the 29 referendums held in Italy since 1995 have managed to do so.
And if Italy's right-wing coalition, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has its way, this referendum won't be the fifth. While Meloni herself hasn't spoken out on the issue, Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa from her Brothers of Italy party has bluntly stated he'll campaign to ensure people stay home.
Reports suggest that Brothers of Italy leadership has even sent a memo to party members, advocating for a boycott of the referendum. Meanwhile, Igor Iezzi, an MP from Deputy PM Matteo Salvini's League party, has openly stated that abstention is their official position, admitting they aim to prevent the quorum from being reached.
Salvini himself has made it clear where he stands - he'll be hitting the beach instead of voting. This change in stance might seem hypocritical considering his stance in the lead up to a 2022 referendum on reforming Italy's justice system, in which he equated abstaining with "giving up." That referendum, which Salvini personally championed, ended up attracting a historically low voter turnout of just 21%.
The government's response to the growing outrage from the opposition has been to argue that abstention is legally acceptable in Italy and that previous left-wing administrations have also encouraged abstention from voting in referendums. While this isn't entirely untrue - Italy's centre-left government indeed called on people to either vote no or abstain from voting in a 1999 referendum on reforming an electoral law[4] - MP Riccardo Magi, leader of the centre-left +Europa party, has called it unacceptable for a "normal country" to do so.
The government is against the referendum on the grounds that it will make it too easy for foreigners to acquire citizenship, claiming that Italy already grants citizenship to more people every year than most other European countries. Salvini, in particular, has called the proposal "dangerous," claiming it will "give citizenship away."
However, opposition leaders like Magi argue that this is an unfounded fear, and that the reform would simply make things slightly easier for legal residents who are still required to demonstrate that they pay taxes, have no criminal record, and speak Italian[3].
The proposal is backed by organizations like Italiani senza cittadinanza, a movement advocating for ius soli birthright citizenship in Italy. Currently, people born to foreign parents in Italy can only apply for citizenship at 18, provided they have lived there without interruption. If they don't apply before turning 19, they must demonstrate three years of legal residency, as well as meet the same language test and income requirements as any other candidate for naturalization, and then wait up to three years for their application to be approved[4].
Easing these requirements is something that Italy's 'centre-right' parties - currently formed of the ruling coalition of the Brothers of Italy, League, and Forza Italia, who came to power in 2022 on a platform of clamping down on 'illegal' immigration - have long stood against[1]. However, Italiani senza cittadinanza argue that the majority of Italians are in favor of changing the system[5], citing a recent survey that found that just over half of voters support lowering the residency requirement from 10 to five years[5].
"It took me 19 long years to get citizenship," Italian actress and writer Tezetà Abraham recently told Internazionale magazine. "This would lower the parameters for applying by no small amount."
So, there you have it. The Italian citizenship referendum is looming, and the right-wing coalition government is doing everything it can to keep the current, lengthier requirements in place. What do you think? Let's hear your thoughts in the comments section below!
#Politics #Voting #Italian citizenship
- The Italian citizenship referendum, expected soon, aims to reduce the wait time for residency-based citizenship from 10 to 5 years.
- The right-wing Italian government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is encouraging its supporters to abstain from voting in this referendum.
- Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa from Meloni's Brothers of Italy party has openly campaigning for people to stay home.
- The Brothers of Italy leadership reportedly sent a memo to party members, advocating for a boycott of the referendum.
- Deputy PM Matteo Salvini's League party has also stated abstention as their official position, aiming to prevent the quorum from being reached.
- The opposition argues that the government's stance is designed to make it difficult for legal residents to acquire Italian citizenship more easily, against the wishes of a majority of Italians, as evidenced by recent surveys.
