Referendum on citizenship: the PD adheres, M5s doubts. In the majority still distances on ius scholae

Halving from 10 to 5 years the period of continuous legal residence in the country for foreigners of age to become Italian citizens. This is what the referendum question, on which signatures will now be collected, deposited on 4 September at the Supreme Court by a group of associations including 'Italians without citizenship', Conngi, Idem Network and organisations such as Libera, Gruppo Abele, A Buon Diritto, Società della Ragione and the parties +Europa, Possibile, Partito Socialista, Radicali Italiani, Rifondazione Comunista as well as a number of personalities such as Luigi Manconi and the former Guarantor of Prisoners' Rights Mauro Palma, is calling for.

'We expect,' emphasises +Europa secretary Riccardo Magi, 'that those who have said in recent days that they are in favour of a reform of the citizenship law will support this referendum'. And a first signal arrives meanwhile from the Dems who will support it. In a note, Marwa Mahmoud (in charge of Participation and Political Education) and Pierfrancesco Majorino (in charge of Migration Policies and the Right to Housing) of the Dem secretariat say: "Our country needs to make a great leap forward on the issue of citizenship". And 'we will not fail to provide our signatures' in support of the question presented.

As far as the referendum is concerned, meanwhile, "we are talking about 2.3 million foreign citizens," calculates Riccardo Magi, secretary of +Europa, "who would be in a position to obtain citizenship, plus their children, about 500 thousand. Many more than those who would be affected by ius scholae, about 500 thousand people, and by ius soli, which would affect about one and a half million people'. 'A first pragmatic step,' he adds, 'while waiting for Parliament to make a comprehensive reform'.

And that is precisely what is being looked at on the M5s side, where there is, in fact, a certain coldness about the question. The referendum seems to have become a bit of a magic formula,' reasons M5s vice-president of senators Alessandra Maiorino, while 'it can be a boomerang'. 'The proposals in Parliament are there: let's work on those,' is her invitation.

Meanwhile, from the centre-right, if Forza Italia is finalising its proposal, the League reiterates its hard line. 'On the modification of the citizenship law, the League has already reiterated that we are against it and it is not part of the government's programme,' says senators' president Massimiliano Romeo. While Salvini recalls that 'we are asking for revocation for serious crimes'.