ER Editor: Italy has a citizenship referendum on 8-9 June, which seeks to reduce the legal residency waiting time for citizenship from 10 years down to 5. On the face of it, this doesn’t sound like anything too earth-shattering to us. The idea is that Italy would be brought more into line with some other European countries in terms of how long prospective citizens have to wait. Obviously, the pro-open borders people are more enthusiastic about this. But it may be practically smarter to get future citizens psychologically on board with this type of citizenship amendment in terms of increased willingness and ability to contribute to the country.
We’re offering some bits and pieces here.
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Abrogative Referendums: Voting on Labour and Citizenship Set for June 8 and 9
On Sunday, June 8, and Monday, June 9, 2025, Italian citizens eligible to vote will be called to the polls to express their choice on five abrogative referendums as provided for by Article 75 of the Constitution. The questions, declared admissible by the Constitutional Court on January 20 concern key issues related to labour and citizenship. (ER: Four are referendums on Labour issues; the 5th is on citizenship)
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One Referendum on Citizenship
- “Italian citizenship: Reduction from 10 to 5 years of legal residence in Italy required for non-EU adults to apply for citizenship”.
The fifth question, promoted by the party +Europa, proposes to reduce the period of legal residence required for non-EU adults to request Italian citizenship from 10 to 5 years.
This reform would bring Italian citizenship law in line with many European countries, promoting greater social integration for long-term residents. It would also allow faster access to civil and political rights, such as the right to vote, eligibility for public employment, and freedom of movement within the European Union
Source
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Italy’s citizenship referendum: a chance to catch up with Europe
Lorenzo Piccoli, Yajna Govind, Maarten Vink
On 8–9 June 2025, Italian citizens will vote in a referendum to reduce the residency requirement for non-EU nationals to apply for Italian citizenship from 10 years to 5. The initiative, backed by over 637,000 signatures and validated by the Constitutional Court, seeks to align Italy’s naturalisation laws with those of most other European countries.
This referendum has been widely, but mistakenly, conflated with earlier debates around ius soli and ius scholae focused on granting citizenship to children born or educated in Italy. In contrast, the current referendum is more narrowly focused: it aims to amend Italy’s 1992 citizenship law by adjusting the timeframe for naturalisation, not its foundational principles.
In most European and Western democracies, five years of legal residence is the standard requirement for naturalisation. France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Ireland adopt this threshold, often alongside integration requirements such as language proficiency and civic knowledge. In 2024, Germany also ‘modernised’ its citizenship law by reducing the residence requirement from eight to five years. Outside Europe, countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand also have a residence requirement of five years. Italy’s 10-year requirement, shared with a few states such as Austria, Lithuania, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland, places it among the most restrictive laws in the Western world.
As a consequence of the current law, Italy has one of the lowest rates of naturalisation among long-term foreign-born residents. Comparative estimates show that only 35 percent of immigrants with 20 to 24 years of residence in Italy have acquired citizenship, compared to the EU average of approximately 53 percent. The academic literature is consistent in showing that access to citizenship has positive causal effects.
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CONTINUE READING HERE
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ER: Apologies for The Guardian, but this article – if you can navigate around the ra-ra tone – has some decently useful information
Italy’s citizenship referendum could make the country fairer. It’s a miracle it’s happening at all
JAMIE McKAY for THE GUARDIAN
For decades, the state has been tightening its rules around who qualifies as Italian. This is a chance to fight back
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The fact that this referendum is happening at all is therefore something of a miracle. For the past three decades, the Italian state has been tightening up its citizenship rules so that fewer and fewer are eligible. And the political wind is still blowing very much in that direction. Last year, a broad coalition of parties put forward a proposal to introduce a so-called ius scholae reform, which would have automatically extended citizenship to foreign nationals who have completed a cycle of schooling. Meloni’s government quickly quashed their efforts. And just weeks ago, her administration enacted a law to prevent foreigners from claiming Italian citizenship by descent via their great-grandparents.
With the walls closing in, this weekend’s vote is a rare chance for Italians to make the country’s bureaucracy slightly more benevolent. But it has cultural implications, too.
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By relaxing the rules on naturalisation, Italians would be recognising the dignity and diversity of millions more of their should-be-compatriots, and enriching their own national story with new protagonists in the process. Surely this is an opportunity for everyone involved?
ER: A Q post has said that Salvini is a white hat (idle thought: was he planted against Bannon 6/16?) …
Meloni and her colleagues do not see it that way. Earlier this week the prime minister declared that she “will not be collecting” her referendum ballot, and several high-profile ministers, including Matteo Salvini, leader of the League party, have been encouraging people to “head to the beach” instead of participating. The government seems to be hoping that fewer than 50% of Italians will turn up to the polls, that the referendum will not reach quorum and that the organisers will be humiliated for their efforts.
As a future citizen, albeit one currently without a voice, I am crossing my fingers that enough of my neighbours will demonstrate the requisite common sense and civic duty to at least show up. Politics aside, this is an opportunity for those privileged with the right to vote to prove that they care as much about the future of Italy as I and so many of my fellow migrant-residents do.
CONTINUE READING HERE
Featured image source: https://unipd-centrodirittiumani.it/en/news/abrogative-referendums-voting-on-labour-and-citizenship-set-for-june-8-and-9
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Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com
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