Italians called to vote on Sunday by referendum on naturalization and labor law

The Italians are invited to rule on Sunday 8 and Monday, June 9 and Monday, June 9 by referendum on a measure to facilitate the obtaining of nationality, as well as on the abolition of laws liberalizing the labor market – two changes to which the government which called to refrain in order to invalidate the result of the vote.

A non -European resident unrelated to marriage or blood with Italy must currently live in the country for ten years before being able to ask for naturalization, a process which can then take years. The proposal, subject to referendum, proposes to reduce this period to five years, which would align Italy to Germany and France.

Supporters of the Yes claim that up to 2.5 million people could benefit from this reform, supported by the Democratic Party (PD, Center left), the main opposition force. The initiative of this referendum, coming from opposition parties and NGOs, had collected more than 500,000 signatures in September, as required by law.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, head of the Fratelli Party of Italia (far right), who came to power in 2022 based on an antimigrant program, said he was “Absolutely against” This measure. The parties of its coalition called on their electorate to desert the ballot boxes, because, for the result of the vote to be valid, it takes a participation of more than 50 %.

For Giorgia Meloni, the current nationality law is “Excellent” And “Very open”. “We are one of the European nations with the greatest number of naturalizations”she said on Thursday. According to Eurostat, Rome granted Italian nationality in 2023 to 213,500 people, a fifth of naturalizations in the European Union.

Naturalization by limited blood link

In March, the government had limited access to naturalization by blood link, making foreigners eligible only with grandparents or Italian parents, while before, ancestry could go back to the great-great-grandparents. Even if the yes prevails, the rule which provides that children born in Italy foreign parents cannot ask for nationality before being 18 years old will remain unchanged.

Very popular in the country, rapper Ghali, born in Milan of Tunisian parents, urged his fans to vote. “Some were born here, have lived here for years, (…) feel Italians in all respects, but are not recognized as citizenshe denounced on Instagram, calling for voting yes to the referendum. NWe ask that five years of life be sufficient (…) To be part of this country. »»

The Italians are also called upon to decide on Sunday and Monday, still by referendum, on a proposal to abolish four laws of liberalization of the labor market, a consultation wanted by the CGIL union (left), the main union confederation of the country, which also collected the 500,000 signatures necessary for the holding of the ballot.

The union hopes to restore protection measures against precarious contracts, layoffs and accidents at work that had been abolished in the past. “We want to overthrow a culture that has prevailed the interests of companies on those of workers”explained to the France-Presse (AFP) agency Maurizio Landini, secretary general of the CGIL.

The Democratic Party supports this change, although it has adopted, when it was in power, some of the measures proposed to the suppression, some of which implemented by the former head of government, Matteo Renzi. Currently at 23 % in the polls, far behind M^me Meloni who remains stable around 30 %, the Democratic Party tries, with this new positioning, to recover part of the workers' vote.