Summary
Italy granted citizenship to Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, due to his Italian ancestry, sparking outrage over the contrast with strict citizenship rules for children of migrants born in Italy.
Critics, including opposition lawmaker Riccardo Magi, called the decision discriminatory, highlighting Italy’s restrictive laws for migrants despite allowing distant descendants of Italians to claim citizenship.
Milei, who has close ties with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is in Rome for political events.
Pro-migrant groups have pushed for reforms, but Meloni’s right-wing government opposes easing citizenship laws.
Italy is weird about giving citizenship.
Normal foreigner? LOL in order to get citizenship you need to pass a language test, being a legal resident for decades (=paid at least 100k in taxes), with the “green card” that expires every 1-2 years but takes 6-12 months to get renewed, with requirements that change every year and the queues at the immigration office are massive (go in line at 5 am, get to the booth at 4 pm)
8 generations ago your grandpa had Italian origins? LOL just fill the form and get the citizenship, no language test required.
Basically almost all south America is eligible for an Italian passport because you just need to prove to have someone of Italian descent in your family tree, no matter how many years or generations ago. No language test, no need to find a specialized job, thanks to that 250 years old ancestor you will get:
Isn’t that great?
FlyingSquid would probably be interested in that information, if they have any Italian heritage through either their or their partner’s families.
I’m Italian and I wonder why the EU hasn’t stopped this madness yet.
The EU doesn’t have that kind of power over individual member states. It’s not like the EU is like a federal government.
I’d really like a federal EU.
Not gonna happen. Too many fundamental differences between member countries and too many very powerful anti-EU groups in the individual parliaments and in the EU Parliament. The Amsterdam Treaty of 1999 also ruled out and prohibits the idea of a federal, EU-wide citizenship. The EU will always be mainly a trade cooperation.