The Italian Senator Mario Borghese, vice-president of the Italians Abroad Associative Movement (MAIE), elected by South America, criticized the charge of €250 (around R$ 1.600) required for the recognition of Italian citizenship for minors.
The charge was established by a recent circular and, according to the senator, is not covered by Decree Law 36/2025, approved just over two months ago. He believes the measure poses a serious obstacle for many families.
"We don't want to think that there is an intention to persecute Italians abroad and their minor children, but it is certainly an unacceptable tax that, for the less fortunate, can become an insurmountable obstacle to the assertion of a sacred right like citizenship," he said.
Borghese stated that decree 36/2025 was drafted with strong effort by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, known as the Farnesina, and had already caused controversy by creating inequalities between children of the same parents.
"When politics delegates everything to bureaucracy, the results often don't meet the interests of citizens," the senator said. He believes the right of Italians abroad to pass on citizenship to their descendants has been unfairly curtailed.
According to Borghese, the Quirinal Palace (seat of the Presidency of the Italian Republic) has already become aware of the distortions created by the decree. Now, he hopes the government will revisit the issue in a broader bill on citizenship.
“Knowing the president’s sensitivity Giorgia Meloni with Italians abroad, I trust that the government will correct the circular, eliminating an unfair and unsustainable tax,” he concluded.
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