Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime ministers, publicly expressed their opposing positions on Wednesday (11) on the proposal that makes it easier to grant citizenship to minors born in the country but who are children of immigrants.
Tajani, who is also foreign minister, supports the principle of school law, which grants citizenship to those who were born or arrived in Italy before the age of five, completed the compulsory school cycle and lived in the country for at least ten years.
Meanwhile, Salvini, the Infrastructure Minister and leader of the League, rejected the proposal during an event in the Senate. “I say this without any controversy, but we have to think about something else,” he said, according to the Ansa news agency. For him, the current law “works well” and there is no priority to change it.
Tajani's proposal suggests granting citizenship to minors who are at least 16 years old and have completed their schooling by that age. According to the chancellor, "Italian citizenship should be a serious matter, not a bureaucratic practice."
Currently, children of immigrants born in Italy can only apply for citizenship after they turn 18. The issue divides the government's allies, led by Giorgia Meloni, who recently tightened rules for the transmission of citizenship by ancestry (the right of blood), limiting the right only to descendants with a father or grandfather born in Italy.
The debate on the issue intensified after the failure of a referendum that sought to reduce the period of residency required for citizenship for immigrants in a regular situation from ten to five years. Despite the support of 65,3% of voters, turnout was only 30%, below the minimum quorum of 50%.
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