Summary by Roxana Barbulescu of a report in Corriere della Sera

Immigrant associations have lobbied for many years for a reform of the Italian nationality law that would grant citizenship to children born in the country of foreign parents. Now this reform has found a policy new promoter in the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano. He qualified as “a nonsense, an absurdity” the denial of Italian citizenship to these children. The Italian daily Corriere della Sera has conducted an survey online that shows that 51.5% of the nearly 15,000 people who voted agree with Napolitano’s statement.

Corriere della Sera reports that reactions are split among Italy’s main political parties. The initiative is supported by the Democratic Party who asks for an amendment to the law “by Christmas”, Italy of Values regards it as “a priority” while the Union of the Centre “fully” agrees with the Napolitano’s initiative. Several members of the Northern League, however, have defended the ius sanguinis principle and have declared themselves “ready to make barricades in the Parliament and on the streets”.

Since there seems to be convergence between most of the political parties and popular support for this initiative, it has a chance to be passed under the recently appointed technical government of Mario Monti. If passed, the reform would be one of the most significant amendments of the Nationality Act since 1992. Currently there are 572,000 children in Italy that could potentially benefit from this amendment.

Read the full article in Corriere della Sera.