Hours after approving an amendment to the Decree-Law 36, the Italian Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee backtracked and withdrew a proposal that required a certificate of proficiency in Italian for citizens born and residing abroad to maintain their Italian citizenship.
Amendment 1.0.8 determined that adults whose direct ancestors were also born outside Italy must present, within a period of up to three years, a certificate of knowledge of the Italian language at level B1. The rule would also apply to young people between 18 and 25 years old.
According to the technical opinion of Ministry of Economy and Finance, the proposal would bring “new and greater burdens to public finances” and would contravene article 81 of the Constitution. The note details the reasons for the negative opinion.
Impact on consular administration
According to the document, “the target audience cannot be determined a priori,” which would require a large-scale consular operation. It is estimated that around 7,5 million Italian citizens reside outside Italy, many of whom were born abroad.
“The individual situation of each applicant and their ancestors must be taken into account,” the text states. “Consulates should initiate controls on an audience of more than 1 or 2 million citizens.” To do this, at least 200 new consular staff, in addition to administrative reinforcements.
Legal and diplomatic risks
The note also warns of the “risk of litigation with an uncertain outcome”. The amendment would create ambiguous interpretations about citizenship recognized by right of blood (jure sanguinis) and would make it difficult for many descendants to be legally classified.
One of the critical points is the possibility of making individuals stateless, that is, without citizenship recognized by any country. “Failure to comply with the requirement may lead to the loss of citizenship.” Italian citizenship, even in cases where the citizen does not have another nationality”, the opinion states. This would violate the United Nations Convention on Statelessness, 1961, ratified by Italy.
Operational and cost limitations
The document also highlights that the measure would oblige consulates and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to supervise language proficiency certification bodies outside Italy. This would not be feasible with the available human and budgetary resources.
Finally, the opinion criticizes the obligation imposed on minors, who should present an Italian certificate before they turn 25. “Failure to present the certificate would result in the loss of citizenship, even in cases where the person does not have another nationality,” it concludes.
Faced with technical and legal criticism, Italian senators decided to remove the amendment from the final text of the decree.
Lorenzato seeks support from Salvini
After the withdrawal of the amendment that required proficiency in Italian to maintain citizenship, former deputy Luis Roberto Lorenzato (Lega) confirmed new moves to modify other parts of the original text.
“We managed to reject it. What a struggle. We also managed to remove the word ‘nato in Italia’ from the text. Now we are fighting to remove the word ‘exclusively Italian citizen’,” said Lorenzato, referring to the wording that still threatens descendants of Italians who have dual citizenship.
According to Lorenzato, the new goal is to adjust the text from “exclusively Italian” to “ius sanguinis”. Thus, Brazilians with Italian citizenship acquired by right of blood — but born in Brazil — would not be affected.
The strategy is being conducted together with Alloy, the party of which Lorenzato is a member, and will be the subject of a meeting with the deputy prime minister and senator Matteo Salvini, scheduled for this Wednesday, May 14th.
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