The Italian Public Ministry, through “State Attorney"(State Attorney's Office) is allegedly delaying Italian citizenship processes"ius sanguinis” based on a decree of November 15, 1889, according to which Italian immigrants who arrived in Brazil before this date would have been naturalized as Brazilians.
"Since 1889, all Italian prime ministers have fought against this atrocity, a law that hasn't taken hold. Now, the legal department of the Farnesina (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) is excluding the Ministry of the Interior and empowering the State Attorney's Office to use this argument and delay the processes for recognizing Italian citizenship 'ius'." Sanguinis'”, explained the Italian-Brazilian deputy Luis Roberto Lorenzato, representative of the League in the Parliament of the Italian Republic, author of the complaint.
The matter came to the deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL), member of the Foreign Relations and National Defense Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, who this week sent a letter to the Italian ambassador in Brazil, Francis Azzarello, asking for clarification about this practice.
According to Lorenzato, the Italian state's lawyers are disregarding the Negative Naturalization Certificates (CNN) issued by the Brazilian government, which could even lead to a diplomatic conflict.
“If Brazil is declaring that the Italian migrant is not a naturalized Brazilian citizen, that person is not Brazilian. It is absurd for the Italian State Attorney's Office to want to attribute Brazilian nationality now to Italians instead of Brazil. It’s disrespectful and people are feeling offended,” she commented.
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According to him, the whole problem could have been avoided if the former consuls hadn't created the waiting list for Italian citizenship applications, which only exists in the case of Brazil.
“There is no queue in Argentina, Venezuela, the United States, Australia, only in Brazil. And chaos ensued, with 300 people in line. Many have duties, they want to study, work and undergo medical treatment in Italy. Some of them went to make the request directly to the commune, where they started to live. Another part works in Brazil, cannot live in Italy and filed a declaratory action in the Court of Justice. This confusion was born from the ill will of the consulates in Brazil, which is not justified, because in Argentina, for example, there are fewer Italians than in Brazil and there is no such queue,” he declared.
Finally, the deputy classified the new attitude as xenophobic and prejudice on the part of Italians against “their own people”.
“We are all Italian. The youngest are fifth generation and the oldest are third generation. What matters is having Italian blood from someone who was born and resident in Italy when the Italian civil code was created. The Brazilian consulates are still recognizing it, but they want to change the law on the carpet, for political motivations”, concluded Lorenzato.
Read Eduardo Bolsonaro's letter sent to the Italian ambassador in Brazil:
