Jurists, legislators and representatives of migration policies will participate this Friday (14) in the congress “The Italian Cittadinanza: acquisition, revocation and strument of giurisdizionale tutelage"(Italian citizenship: acquisition, revocation and judicial protection instruments, in free translation).
The event, which should be in person, will be broadcast online – due to the pandemic – and will be limited to 200 participants. You must be registered with Bar Association of Lecce.
While Italy is witnessing a decline in its birth rate, which is attested by the worst figures of the century, on the other hand it is seeing a significant increase in citizenship applications. Demographic pressures are changing the country.
But how can we live with a regulatory law created 30 years ago? For Salvatore Centonze, scientific director of the Apulian Chamber of Immigration Lawyers, “theLaw 91 of 1992 is often inadequate” and needs to be debated. He will be one of the speakers at the meeting.
Interventions by experts from the academic, forensic, judicial and public administration worlds are planned.
How did the idea for a conference of this type come about?
“Our country is going through a process of profound transformation as a result of two forces, only apparently opposing, that press it in search of a continuous dynamic balance. On the one hand, there is a chronic birth crisis (also denounced by the president Mattarella in the last end-of-year message of his term). Just think that, in 2021, there was the most significant drop in births in the last 102 years. Worst number since the end of the First World War. On the other hand, we have an increase in citizenship applications made by non-EU citizens, now rooted in our cities”, said Centonze.
What are the numbers that express the consistency of the phenomenon?
“The little data released by the interior Ministery give an approximate but reliable indication of the scale of the phenomenon. In 2006, around 30 thousand citizenship applications were registered. In 2018, more than 140 thousand citizenship applications were submitted. Only in 2019 and 2020 was there a slight drop, due to the Salvini decree in 2019, which introduced a new requirement for obtaining citizenship (i.e. the Italian language knowledge test), and in 2020 the coronavirus pandemic, which made it more difficult to find the documentation accompanying the request”, explained Salvatore Centonze.
What is the present photograph?
“Currently, there are around 300 thousand citizenship practices being analyzed by the Ministry of the Interior, and those pending in municipal administrations due to the benefit of the law, that is, carried out by second-generation foreigners (born in Italy who have reached the age of majority) and by descendants of Italian citizens who emigrated around the world. It should also be borne in mind that, since the Italian citizenship is transmitted yure sanguinis, all minor children of these 300 aspiring Italian citizens will also become Italian citizens. A true army of people, almost always integrated and productive, a significant portion of our workforce, who every year demand the recognition of political rights in Italy and the Union, and who in a few years will significantly change the current social situation, structure political and economic of our country”, he added.
Conference speakers
The congress will open with greetings from the rector of the University of Salento, Fabio Pollice, the director of the Department of Legal Sciences, Luigi Melica, the president of the Bar Association, Antonio De Mauro, the counselor of the order and coordinator of the Legal Aid Commission , Giuseppe Gallo, and the councilor of the Municipality of Lecce, Silvia Miglietta.
The intervention of deputy Matteo Mauri, author of the decree that amended the 2018 security decrees, is also planned.
In addition to Salvatore Centonze, the speakers will be Eliana Augusti (president of the master's course in Euro-Mediterranean Governance of Migration Policies at the University of Salento), Paola Marino (deputy mayor of Bari, specialist in civil law, citizenship, status of foreigners, immigration and asylum) and Valeria Vincenti (judge of the Specialized Section of Immigration, International Protection and Free Movement of Citizens of the European Union, of the Court of Lecce).
The conference is moderated by Maria Rosaria Faggiano (president of the Chamber of Immigration Lawyers of Apulia).
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