Tighter restrictions on citizenship: the Chamber of Deputies approves a fast-track procedure for examining the League’s bill

Under pressure from General Vannacci on security and immigration, the Lega and Fdi are pushing for further tightening on these two fronts. The Carroccio has secured the Chamber of Deputies’ approval for a declaration of urgency (i.e. a faster procedure) for the bill, which includes restrictive amendments to the rules on acquiring citizenship and new grounds for revocation for foreign nationals who commit serious offences. The Lega’s bill was therefore immediately referred to the Constitutional Affairs Committee which, given the declaration of urgency, will have half the usual time (30 days instead of 60) to report back to the Chamber, i.e. by 8 August.

“That’s the way to go! Others talk, the League acts,” exults Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini. And the Senate group leader, Massimiliano Romeo, takes a dig at Vannacci’s supporters: “Whilst some people talk nonsense, the League is taking action within the institutions to defend its long-standing causes.” Meanwhile, the MPs from Futuro Nazionale, who voted in favour of the fast-track procedure, speak of the “Vannacci effect” on the centre-right and are stepping up their demands, clamouring for a decree on “remigration”. The opposition, on the other hand, are up in arms with scathing criticism: “It is a measure of collective punishment and racial profiling” and “contrary to the Constitution”, attacks the PD through MP Ouidad Bakkali. “It establishes a ‘principle of racial superiority’,” adds the M5S, with Vittoria Baldino.

Currently, a foreign national born in Italia who has resided there legally without interruption until the age of 18 may become a citizen if they declare their intention to acquire Italian citizenship within one year of reaching the age of majority. The measure proposed by the Lega, ‘not least in light of the worrying rise in the number of offences committed by foreign minors’, introduces specific grounds for exclusion in the event of a conviction for offences against the person or against property, for the offence of the production, trafficking and unlawful possession of narcotic substances, and where there are proven grounds relating to the security of the Republic. The grounds for exclusion include a wide range of offences: from femicide to affray, from causing bodily harm (to law enforcement officers, school and healthcare staff, and referees) to making threats. But also the unlawful dissemination of sexually explicit images or videos, theft, robbery, squatting, damage to property, defacement and vandalism of other people’s property, and cyber fraud. If, at the time of declaring the intention to acquire citizenship, there are pending criminal proceedings, the citizenship application process is not rejected but suspended until notification of the order to dismiss the case or the final acquittal judgement. In the event of a conviction, however, the suspension only ceases after rehabilitation. This tightening of the rules, as explained by the League’s group leader in the Chamber of Deputies Riccardo Molinari, aims to address ‘an emergency’: ‘Today there is a clear problem of a lack of integration amongst second-generation minors.’

As for the revocation of acquired Italian citizenship – which is already provided for in cases such as terrorism and subversion – this is now being extended to cases of murder, female genital mutilation, human trafficking, and sexual violence against children and gang rape.

It is against this backdrop that FdI, too, is putting forward its proposal on repatriation. “Convicted migrants will be repatriated” to serve their sentences in their country of origin, announces Galeazzo Bignami, the FdI group leader in the Chamber of Deputies, calling – in turn – for an “expedited process”. “This is an initiative that is now finally possible thanks to the changes secured by Giorgia Meloni at European level,” Bignami explained further whilst outlining the text at a press conference. “Because of” the old EU Pact on Migration, “it was not permitted to repatriate migrants who had been convicted of serious offences carrying a sentence of more than one year”; today, however, the proposal falls within the framework of “bilateral agreements with safe countries of origin”. The proposal also provides for an extension of the range of offences that allow for the revocation of citizenship. “We are extending the grounds for revoking citizenship – which is currently possible in cases of terrorism and subversion – to all the most serious offences: murder, mass murder, kidnapping and offences linked to the Mafia,” explained Sara Kelany, national head of immigration for Fratelli d’Italia. This represents a significant point of convergence with the League’s draft bill.