Italy's anti-immigrant League pushes bill to tighten citizenship and expand revocations
The League-backed proposal would broaden the offences that can trigger loss of Italian citizenship and raise hurdles for children of immigrants to obtain it.
A bill championed by the anti-immigrant League aims to widen the grounds for stripping Italian citizenship and to make naturalisation more restrictive. New revocation categories include mafia-style crimes, assistance to foreign criminal organisations, female genital mutilation, human trafficking and cyber offences targeting the military, with homicide and certain sexual crimes removed from the original draft. The legislation would also tighten eligibility for people born in Italy to foreign parents, demanding uninterrupted residence and a B1-level language test.
Applications pending criminal proceedings would be suspended until acquittal, and convicted applicants would face an undefined rehabilitation period. Revocation requires a presidential decree following a request from the interior minister and must be executed within ten years of the final conviction. Coalition partner Forza Italia succeeded in limiting drug-dealing and discrimination clauses to offences carrying at least three-year sentences, while critics from +Europa and the Green-Left Alliance call the bill unconstitutional.
Why it matters
The law could alter citizenship status for thousands and reshape Italy's immigration and integration framework.
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