Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced that he will abandon the Democratic Party (PD) and create his own formation.
Renzi, who in 2014 became Italy's youngest prime minister at the age of 39, was a controversial figure within the PD, especially for its left-wing loyalists of party leader Nicolas Zingaretti.
His departure, which is expected to drag other supporters down with it, weakens the PD, and with that, the dream of implementing Italian citizenship by right of soli (or jus soli) may become a little more distant.
Last Saturday (14), in a publication on Corriere della Sera, one of Italy's main newspapers, Beppe Severgnini – an influential columnist – said he believes that ius soli is appropriate and will be introduced, but perhaps in a milder way, and not now. According to him to avoid a confrontation with Matteo Salvini, former Italian deputy prime minister and leader of the now opposition League, who could use the issue as a propaganda tool.
At the beginning of the year, a survey by the Ipsos Institute showed that 55% of the population agree that the Italian parliament presents a law that allows the individual the right ius soli, which means “right to soil” in Latin, and which guarantees the individual the right to nationality of the place where he was born. 41% of Italians interviewed said they were opposed to the project.
At the time, Salvini said that the current Italian law was already good enough for the country's current stage and that he did not see the need to modify it.
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Two years ago, when the project was presented in parliament, deputies from the Democratic Party voted in favor and those from the 5 Star Movement abstained. Today the two parties walk together in a center-left government.
According to data from 2017, around 1,1 million foreign children live in Italy, more than half of whom were born on Italian soil.
Under the current Italian Citizenship Law of 1992, a child born to foreign parents in Italian territory can only apply for citizenship after turning 18, provided they have remained in Italy legally and continuously.
Change in citizenship by blood right
At his inauguration, the Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, defended on Monday (9) the need for a review of the country's legislation on the recognition of citizenship by blood right (the right of blood) to descendants of Italians.
The statement was made during Conte's speech to ask for a vote of confidence from the Chamber of Deputies for his second government, the result of an alliance between the populist 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the social-democratic PD.
"The law on the acquisition of Italian citizenship by citizens residing abroad who are descended from Italian families also seems to deserve a review that, on the one hand, removes some discriminatory rules and, on the other hand, introduces new criteria in relation to those currently in force," said the Prime Minister.
Conte, however, did not give further details about his plans. But sources within parliament confirm that the text to amend the current Italian law is ready and, among other changes, imposes a limit on the transmission of Italian citizenship to the second generation.
