The general and MEP Roberto Vannacci, from Lega, published on Sunday, May 4, a harsh article – in the newspaper Libero Quotidiano – against the referendum scheduled for June in Italy.
The proposal, championed by left-wing parties and associations, aims to reduce the minimum legal residency period required to obtain Italian citizenship from ten to five years.
For Vannacci, the measure does not meet any real needs of the country. “There is no political urgency, nor legal or social reason,” he wrote. According to him, in 2022, the current legislation has already guaranteed 210 thousand new citizenships — the highest number in the European Union.
The military man maintains that the hidden objective of the proposal is to expand the progressive electorate. “It is yet another attempt to sell Italian identity in exchange for votes,” he said. He also questions the idea that citizenship facilitates integration. “Other European countries show that rapid access to citizenship does not prevent the formation of ghettos or radicalization,” he wrote in Libero Quotidiano.
The MEP argues that working and paying taxes should not be confused with an “automatic right” to citizenship. “Paying taxes is an obligation, not a merit,” he says. He argues that citizenship should be a “point of arrival” and not a point of departure — a recognition, not a mere bureaucratic given.
According to Vannacci, granting citizenship should be a judicious act, aimed at those who demonstrate true cultural, civic and linguistic integration. “It is the State’s duty to assess whether the new citizen will be a benefit or a burden to the community.”
In the end, the general accuses the left of trying to manipulate the public debate with speeches of inclusion and civility. For him, the real objective is to expand the right to vote of foreigners in national elections.
About the referendum
On Sunday, June 9, 2025, Italians will go to the polls to vote in a referendum proposing to reduce the minimum legal residency period required to apply for Italian citizenship from ten to five years.
The referendum on citizenship was called after a campaign promoted by the centrist party Mais Europa, which defends policies for integrating immigrants into Italian society and gathered more than 600 signatures in support of the cause.
Currently, foreigners over the age of 18 can apply for citizenship after residing in Italy continuously for a decade, but the referendum will decide whether the country should reduce this period to five years, as it was until 1992.
The vote, however, does not concern the project promoted by the ruling Forza Italia (FI) party, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, to impose restrictions on the principle of jus sanguinis (right of blood) for people of Italian descent.
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