Referendum of Italian citizenship: what is at stake? | Civil rights news

The fate of millions of immigrants is at stake while the Italians vote in a two -day referendum This proposes to accelerate the process of acquiring citizenship for foreigners who have legally entered the country.

The referendum also aims to reduce labor reforms to provide improved job protections.

The polling stations opened its doors on Sunday at 7 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT), with expected results after the surveys were closed on Monday at 3 p.m. (1:00 p.m. GMT).

The measures – supported by opposition parties, unions and social activists – aim to revise citizenship laws to help second generation Italians born in the country, with non -European parents, are easily integrated.

However, the vote may not generate a sufficient participation rate to be deemed valid – a participation rate of more than 50% is required for a referendum to be legally binding.

Before the vote of this weekend, the question of citizenship attracted a lot of attention to a nation where concerns concerning the extent of immigration helped to propel power at the end of 2022.

So, what does the referendum propose, and what does this mean for immigrants whose life is in limbo because of the slow process of naturalization in the member nation of the EU?

What are the requirements of Italian citizenship and how many immigrants await citizenship?

The question on the voting bulletin asks the Italians if they are restoring the reduction in the period of residence required to request Italian citizenship, by naturalization, from 10 years to five.

The change proposed by the referendum would allow nearly 1.5 million foreigners to immediately obtain citizenship, according to an estimate of Idos, an Italian research center. This would include nearly 300,000 minors, who would obtain citizenship if their parents did.

About half of the 5.4 million foreign residents in Italy could be eligible to request citizenship if the vote is adopted.

The vote comes like meloni tightened citizenship Laws, which makes it difficult for resident immigrants to obtain nationality.

Currently, immigrants from countries outside the EU can only ask for citizenship after 10 years of uninterrupted residence in Italy.

In addition, children of legitimate immigrants can only ask for passports once they have been 18 years old and if they have continued in the country since birth.

On the other hand, generous lines on line have enabled people of Italian origin, even if they are distant, to obtain citizenship, helping to maintain a link with the diaspora.

Between 2016 and 2023, for example, Italy granted citizenship to more than 98,300 people, mainly in Latin America, on the basis of their Italian ancestry claims.

With the birth rate of Italy in a sharp decline, economists say that the country must attract more foreigners to stimulate its anemic economy.

Francesco Galietti, of the political risk company Policy Sonar, told the reuters news agency that the maintenance of these tight rules was “an identity problem” for Meloni, but that it was also driven by companies to open the borders of a country aging to foreign workers.

“On the one hand, there is the rhetoric of cultural identity, but on the other hand, there are potential problems paying for pensions and an economy that is based on manufacturing, which needs workers,” said Galietti.

For the context, the Italian Constitution allows citizens to repeal laws through referendums, part of the system of verification and counterweights designed after the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini in the 1940s.

What are the other proposals for the referendum?

The referendum aims to make workers more difficult and to increase the remuneration of people dismissed by small businesses, overthrowing a previous law adopted by a center-left government a decade ago.

One of the questions about the ballot also addresses the urgent issue of labor safety, restaurants the joint responsibility for entrepreneurs and subcontractors for work injuries.

Activists have brought together more than 4.5 million signatures, according to the Italian Union of the General Confederation of Labor (CGIL), much more than necessary to trigger the referendum, which will include five questions – four on the labor market and one on citizenship.

“We want to reverse a culture that prioritizes the interests of business on those of workers,” said CGIL secretary general Maurizio Landini to the AFP news agency.

Who supported the referendum and why?

The referendum was promoted by a coalition of relatively small political parties – more from Europe, possible, the Italian Socialist Party, the Italian radicals and the Party of Communist Retlains – and many associations of civil society.

It is also supported by the Democratic Party of the Center-Gauche, which judges Italian laws on Italian citizenship more aligned on EU level standards.

Research shows that access to citizenship has positive causal effects.

Immigrants who naturalize experience lower unemployment rates, earn higher income and are less likely to be overqualified for their work.

On the other hand, prolonged waiting periods for the delay in naturalization or damage these effects.

These results support the assertion that naturalization is not only a reward, but also an important catalyst for integration.

The majority of Italians believe that citizenship also accelerates the integration process.

The last Eurobarometer on the integration of immigrants reports that 87% of Italians think that the acquisition of citizenship is an important factor for the successful integration of immigrants into Italy.

Even if it passes, however, the reform will not affect the law that many deeply consider unjust – that children born in Italy foreign parents can only ask for nationality.

Does PM Meloni support the new rules of citizenship?

The left -wing and centrist partists of the opposition, civil society groups and a leading union have clung to the questions of labor rights and demographic misfortunes of Italy as a means of questioning the government of right coalition of Meloni.

Meloni said that she would present herself in the polls but not to vote – a decision widely criticized by the left as an undemocratic, because it will not contribute to the necessary threshold to make the vote valid.

The activists and the opposition parties denounced the lack of public debate on the measures, accusing the coalition of center-right in the power to try to alleviate the interest in the sensitive issues that directly affect immigrants and workers.

A survey of the Demopolis Institute, last month, the participation rate would have around 31 to 39% among around 50 million voters from Italy, well below the required threshold.

The leaders of two of the right -wing parties of the governing coalition, Antonio Tajani of Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini of the League, opposed the vote.

The referendum is “dangerous” and would extend access to citizenship “without discrimination,” said Salvini, Italian Deputy Prime Minister in May.

What is the importance of the referendum?

Supporters claim that this reform would lead to the law of Italian citizenship in accordance with many other European countries, promoting greater social integration for long -term residents.

It would also allow faster access to civil and political rights, such as voting rights, eligibility for public employment and freedom of movement within the EU.

Italy is also faced with one of the most acute demographic crises in Europe.

Its population is growing quickly, with approximately a quarter of Italians over the age of 65 and only 12% aged 14 or less. The referendum could relieve some of these pressures.