Olympics relaunch 'ius soli', oppositions' pressure. Stop by the League, but Fi opens to 'ius scholae'.

The act of vandalism that defaced the 'anti-racist' mural for Olympic champion Paola Egonu has rekindled a debate that has long been off the political radar: that on the need to change the current citizenship law. Starting from the Pd Elly Schlein secretary, who launches a clear appeal. 'For us,' she writes, 'whoever is born or grows up in Italy is Italian and we will continue to fight to change the law'. The reference is to the Ius Soli, a citizenship model supported by the PD that divides the camps.

The current law dates back to 1992. It provides that 'a foreigner who is born in Italy' may become an Italian citizen 'on condition that he has resided there legally and continuously until reaching the age of majority'. The request for citizenship, therefore, can arrive within twelve months of reaching the age of eighteen. A system that for the oppositions is 'out of time'. The PD pushes for the Ius soli model, according to which citizenship can be acquired for the fact of being born on Italian territory. A position supported without hesitation by the Green Alliance and Left, Action and +Europa.

After the Olympic triumphs, the Democratic Party is back on the attack to amend the 1992 law on citizenship. With a motion in September to relaunch the ius soli. And in addition, a bill for 'sporting' ius soli, reserved for athletes, presented on 6 August in the Chamber of Deputies by Mauro Berruto, the Dem's head of sport. After all, there are numerous proposals presented in Parliament to amend Law 91/1992, inserting new rules on citizenship. In addition to Berruto's, the PD has filed five and the M5s a couple. The Pentastellati are more oriented towards ius scholae (giving Italian citizenship to those who have completed a school cycle in Italy), but they declare themselves ready for convergences. While +Europa is working on a referendum question that aims to modify the existing law, in the direction of Ius soli.

The League closes to any hypothesis of modification. "The citizenship law is fine as it is, and the numbers of concessions (Italy is first in Europe with over 230,000 citizenships issued, ahead of Spain and Germany) prove it. There is no need for Ius Soli or shortcuts," reads a Carroccio note.

What is new, however, is that in the face of the League's outright no, and Fdi's more timid one, openings are coming from Forza Italia, which is supposedly finalising its own text of the law, under the new course that is more autonomous from its majority allies. "Everyone has their own sensitivities and approaches. We are against the Ius soli but are instead open to the Ius Scholae. As Berlusconi said, we are for integration. And the school is the engine of this integration,' said Forza Italia national spokesman Raffaele Nevi.