Prime Minister Georgia Maloney. Photo: Roberto Monaldo / Keystone Press Agency / Global Look Press
On Sunday and Monday, Italians will decide in a referendum on two important initiatives – simplifying the granting of citizenship to immigrants and repealing laws that liberalised the labour market. Both initiatives are causing heated political controversy and fierce opposition from the government of Georgia Meloni, which is openly calling for a boycott of the vote, BBC and AFP report.
One of the proposals is to reduce the minimum period of residence in Italy for non-EU citizens from 10 to 5 years, a rule that is already in place in Germany and France. This could potentially allow up to 2.5 million people to acquire Italian citizenship more quickly.
The reform was initiated by opposition parties and a number of civil society organisations, which collected more than 500,000 signatures – the minimum required to call a referendum.
The prime minister is against it – and suggests a beach instead of a polling station
Georgia Meloni, head of the right-wing radical party Fratelli d’Italia, is strongly opposed to both initiatives. She called the current law “open and effective,” stressing that Italy is already among the EU leaders in terms of the number of citizenships granted – more than 213,000 in 2023 (according to Eurostat).
Maloney’s coalition opted for a strategic boycott – without an active “no” campaign – in order to avoid drawing too much attention to the issue and avoiding the 50% turnout required to recognise the referendum as valid.
“If you don’t agree, you can abstain,” the prime minister said on television, adding that she would still come to the polling station “out of respect for the procedure” but would not vote.
The right to citizenship – but not from birth
Even in the event of a “yes” vote, the key problem – the inability of children born in Italy to foreigners to obtain citizenship – will remain. They will still have to wait until they are 18 to apply.
In addition, the government has previously restricted naturalisation by descent – now only descendants of Italian parents or grandparents can apply for citizenship, whereas previously it was possible to apply for citizenship through the fifth generation.
Referendum in the shadows – the media is silent
Italian state television, which is controlled by Meloni’s allies, is barely covering the event. This is part of the strategy, says Professor Roberto D’Alimonte of LUISS University: “They don’t want to activate society. Their goal is to prevent the turnout from reaching the threshold.”
