The statement comes amid controversy over “jus scholae”
Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani defended on Friday (13) the revision of the rules governing the granting of citizenship by right of blood (“jus sanguinis”), a statement destined to heat up the already heated debate on what it means to be Italian.
“We see in our consulates and embassies people who get angry because they speak Italian. And they want an Italian passport. We need to set parameters, we are working on a broad bill to reform citizenship,” Tajani said during the 84th Congress of the Dante Alighieri Society, an organization that promotes the Italian language in the world, in Rome.
“I believe that the rule that grants citizenship by right of blood should also be revised,” stressed the minister, leader of the conservative party Força Itália (FI) and political heir of the late former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Tajani and FI defend the introduction of “jus scholae” (“right of blood”), a principle that would allow children of foreigners born in the country to obtain citizenship after completing 10 years of studies in the national education system.
The idea has the support of the opposition, which this week tried to pass it through an amendment to a security bill. The text ended up blocked, also with the help of FI, which says it is preparing a broader proposal on the subject.
On the other hand, the “jus scholae” meets strong resistance from the nationalist right, represented by the parties Fratelli d’Italia (FdI), of the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and by the League, of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, Tajani’s colleagues in government.
“Someone said that I turned left, but a modern centre-right cannot be obscurantist and cover its eyes so as not to see how Italy has changed,” declared the Foreign Minister.
Currently, citizenship rules in the country are governed by the principle of “jus sanguinis” (“right of blood”): anyone who has Italian ancestors, be they parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc., is a citizen.
Children of immigrants can only obtain citizenship when they turn 18, even if they were born and raised in Italy, which, according to critics of this system, marginalizes children and adolescents who have never seen another place.
The right, for its part, claims that the “jus scholae” would open the doors to a presumed “invasion” of immigrants. According to a study carried out by the Association for the Development of Industry in Southern Italy (Svimez), the change in the rules would benefit approximately 48 thousand children.
Source: Terra
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