CSER statement of Scalabrinian Missionaries present in Europe and Africa

This coming June 8 and 9, in the almost total silence of public and private information, Italian citizens are being asked to cast their votes (YES or NO) on 5 referendum questions.

Four concern the rights-duties of workers and entrepreneurs and one the proposal to reduce from 10 to 5 years the time of legal residence in Italy for foreign nationals to apply to become Italian citizens.

In fact, several parties, especially government parties, also support, more or less openly, the right not to go to the polls in order to make the quorum (50 percent plus one of eligible voters) fail and thus the a-priori rejection of all

referendum: all without going into the substance of the questions. In this way, however, one is not rejecting the questions (to do this one would have to go to the polling stations and write NO on the ballots) but telling the Italians that their vote counts for nothing, that they can stay comfortably at home because they are taken care of, today, tomorrow and always, by the parties…

For those, however, who do not want to continually delegate to others their ability to judge and decide I propose to think a little more about the question regarding the time frame for a foreign citizen to be able to apply for Italian citizenship.

Some politicians, inclined to always and only use lies to achieve their “not very noble” goals, keep repeating that Italian citizenship is sacred and cannot be given to those who ask for it (perhaps delinquents or unworthy people) leading one to believe that ticking YES on the referendum ballot legitimizes this claim.

In fact, the referendum simply asks that instead of waiting 10 years (Law No. 91 of 1992) a foreigner who wishes (and who has all the requirements of the law) can apply to become an Italian citizen after 5 years of regular residence, as was already provided by the law

No. 153 of June 13, 1912 of the Kingdom of Italy, which stated in Article 4: “Italian citizenship, including the enjoyment of political rights, may be granted by royal decree, subject to the favorable opinion of the Council of State: … to the foreigner who has resided for at least five years in the Kingdom…”

While keeping in mind that submitting an application for citizenship does not mean obtaining it immediately: it always takes 2 to 3 years before the process is concluded, and then the years become 7 or 8 it is necessary to remind those who wave the bogeyman of given away citizenship that the requirements for a foreigner who wants to become Italian DO NOT CHANGE with this referendum.

In fact, the foreign national must always present his or her criminal record both from the country of origin, if expatriated after the age of 14, and from the country of arrival, must prove sufficient income to support himself or herself and his or her family, must provide all documents endorsed and

sworn affidavits with the Italian authorities attesting to his generalities and family composition, and he must continue to have an adequate knowledge of the Italian language.

Forget about given citizenship! Voting YES in the referendum is instead intended to give a sign of recognition of the stable and integrated presence of some 1.4 million people who, born abroad, have chosen Italy as their “home,” contributing with their labor to the country’s economy and its demographic decline.

This is a first, small but insufficient step toward that Italian society proper of an inclusive country capable of creating the proper living conditions for those who feel they are Italian and would like to be recognized as such. Unfortunately, this referendum does not touch on the issue of the inadequacy of the current legislation (Law No. 91 of 1992), which does not recognize the citizenship and effective membership in Italian society of approximately 1 million foreign minors born in Italy or who arrived as children and reside in Italy with a compulsory school curriculum completed in Italy.

These children and youth speak Italian, experience the culture of our country, and share dreams and aspirations with their Italian peers. The lack of legal recognition of their identity fuels frustrations and identity conflicts, so much so that many of them are pushed to have to choose between belonging to their family’s culture of origin and their Italian culture, experiencing tensions both in the “host” society and with their parents. All this, however, does not come into play with this referendum but will have to be another step to take toward the inclusive country we want.

A final note also concerns the approval in the Senate of the so-called “citizenship decree,” dl 36/25, under which Italian citizenship is no longer automatically transmitted to those born abroad-descendants of Italians-who hold other citizenship, but only to those who have an Italian parent or grandparent.

What is thought-provoking about this rule, however, is the rationale. Indeed, it is argued that Italian citizenship cannot be given to Italian descendants “by blood” who no longer have any linguistic or cultural ties to our country for generations and who do not work, pay taxes or contribute directly to the country’s economic growth.

This is truly surreal: foreigners who speak Italian, work and pay taxes in Italy are denied citizenship because they don’t have tricolor “blood” in their veins, while Italian descendants are denied citizenship because their blood is not too tricolor since they don’t speak Italian, work and pay Italian taxes…

If anyone thought that politicians had any problem with logic, here they find confirmation that saying everything and the opposite of everything is just the essence of certain politics in our country and beyond. In any case, on June 8 and 9, let’s ALL GO VOTE!!!

Rome, May 20, 2025

Lorenzo Prencipe, cs
Center for Emigration Studies Rome | CSER