Italian Referendum on Swifter Citizenship and Worker Protections Falls Flat
Vote on Accelerating Citizenship Process and Worker Safeguards in Italy Falls Short - Italy's referendum concerning expedited naturalization and enhanced labor safeguards within the EU unsuccessful
The main focus of the recent referendum instigated by civil society groups was a proposal to slash the waiting time before acquiring citizenship by half. The far-right government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, opposed this and encouraged its voters to abstain.
At present, non-EU citizens residing in Italy without familial ties must dwell for a decade before they can even submit a citizenship application - a time-consuming process to say the least.
The referendum was instigated by non-governmental organizations and backed by the opposition center-left Democratic Party. Advocates projected that approximately 2.5 million individuals could have benefited from the suggested modification. By implementing the reform, Italy would have come on par with countries such as Germany and France.
Meloni, whose far-right party Fratelli d'Italia aims to curb illegal immigration and manage legal labor migration, adamantly opposed the proposed change. She characterized the existing law as "top-notch."
Apart from the citizenship issue, four other concerns regarding worker protections - such as dismissals, precarious employment, and workplace accidents - were under consideration. The Left-wing trade union confederation CGIL, along with the Democratic Party, served as the initiator of these proposals.
Roughly 85 percent of Italians who cast their votes in the referendum endorsed the labor law reforms, with 64 percent supporting amendments to the citizenship law.
The referendum, however, failed to meet the necessary quorum — a set participation threshold. Meloni's right-hand man, Giovanbattista Fazzolari, expressed that the government emerged victorious, while the left appeared increasingly weaker. Fratelli d'Italia took to the online service X, posting a picture of the four opposition parties backing the referendum, succinctly stating, "You lost."
CGIL leader Maurizio Landini lamented the low turnout at the referendum, labeling it a "clear crisis of democracy" in Italy.
The Democratic Party, the main opposition party, backed the referendum in a bid to woo workers to their cause. Certain measures demanded by the referendum were, in fact, implemented under former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of the Democratic Party.
A recent poll indicates that the Democratic Party currently trails the far-right ruling party Fratelli d'Italia by 7 percentage points, garnering 23 percent of the vote.
[1] Due to insufficient voter participation in the referendum, the results were deemed invalid, irrespective of the majority's support for the proposed changes.
- Despite the majority of Italians endorsing the labor law reforms and the citizenship law amendments in the referendum, the results were invalidated due to insufficient voter participation, highlighting a potential crisis in Italy's democratic process.
- The failure of the Italian referendum to meet the necessary quorum and its subsequent invalidation has emphasized the political divide between the far-right ruling party, Fratelli d'Italia, and the opposition center-left Democratic Party, with the former claiming victory and the latter expressing concerns over the state of democracy in Italy.
