3 days ago
‘It's a tragedy': How Italy's citizenship reform failure crushed residents' hopes
Italian citizenship For Members
After a landmark reform to ease Italy's citizenship rules failed due to low voter turnout, many of the country's foreign residents expressed bitter disappointment over what they saw as an "unfair" result.
A proposal to halve the residency requirement for Italian citizenship applications from ten to five years was quashed on Monday, after a closely-watched referendum on the issue failed to reach the required voter threshold.
At just 30.6 percent, turnout for the vote fell far short of the quorum of more than 50 percent needed for its result to be valid.
Italy's government, which strongly opposed the proposed reform and had called on citizens to boycott the vote, celebrated the outcome with a Facebook post mocking its supporters, while opposition forces slammed the low turnout as a sign of a "clear democratic crisis" in Italy.
Following the reform's failure, we asked our readers how they felt about the referendum result and how it would affect their plans to apply for Italian citizenship.
Here's what they told us.
'Unfair'
David Hallowell in Bologna was coming up on five years of Italian residency when the result was announced on Monday.
'It would have meant I would have been able to apply for citizenship… now it's going to be a case of seeing the situation in another 5 years,' he said.
'The result was expected but I was hoping it would pass.'
Nori Curtis in Perugia said she had hoped the proposal would provide an alternative path to Italian citizenship after a recent government clampdown on ancestry-based applications 'may make it impossible' for her to take that route.
'This reform would have been another way to partake of citizen benefits,' she said.
'I feel that if you are living in Italy full time and paying 43% tax, you should have the same benefits as a citizen.'
Theresa Mastrobuono, who lives in Castiglione Messer Raimondo in Abruzzo and is an Italian citizen, agreed: 'It's unfair to the people who have lived here, contributed to the culture, paid taxes, and/or worked to assimilate into Italian life.'
'It's Italy that will suffer'
A small group of readers said they supported the current ten-year residency requirement.
'I believe citizenship should be earned through integration and commitment, not handed out more easily,' said L. Corolla in Genoa.
But a greater number expressed the view that Italy, a country facing a severe demographic crisis, was shooting itself in the foot by not being more welcoming towards outsiders.
'Ultimately it's Italy that will suffer in years to come,' said Dennis Curry, who has lived in the country for three years and will be eligible for citizenship in another seven.
'They have a large percentage of Italians (in reality) that are not recognised or embraced. Whilst Italy remains in fear of cultural change, the countries that embrace change will grow.'
Michael Steven Knoll, who stays in Vigliano d'Asti in Piedmont for several months out of each year but has no plans to apply for citizenship, agreed that 'discouraging immigration is exacerbating Italy's population decline.'
'Immigrants can enrich a country's culture and contribute positively to its economy,' he added.
One anonymous respondent said they viewed the referendum as an indicator of Italy's attitude towards race.
'I am an Italian citizen, but of mixed race,' they said.
'My husband is not an Italian citizen. For us, this referendum was more about a 'pulse check' on racism and xenophobia in Italy.
'Apparently, it's not a welcoming place to mixed races.'
'The government prefers people not to vote'
For several readers, the fact that so few Italians exercised their right to vote was more concerning than the result itself.
'It is a tragedy that the people have not used this opportunity to express their opinions,' said Richard in Aosta.
'I'm disappointed that more people did not vote. As with any election your vote is your voice and it's unfortunate when people do not express it,' said Miriam N. in Puglia, who added that she would 'patiently wait the required time' before applying for citizenship.
Some felt Italy's government carried a greater share of the blame for the poor turnout than its citizens.
One anonymous reader said that when they previously lived abroad, they 'found it very difficult to vote' in Italian elections as 'ballots never arrived or arrived too late.'
Anna Galvani, an Italian citizen living in Piacenza, observed that 'there was very little publicity, really. No appeals to the importance of voting as a civic duty.'
'I lived in Switzerland previously, and the attitude to voting is completely different,' she said.
'This is not innate. It is taught, even in the schools. But here the government clearly prefers people not to vote.'
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