Italy opens way for referendum on easing citizenship rules

By Marta Di Donfrancesco

ROME (Reuters) - Pro-migrant groups and opposition parties have collected enough signatures to trigger a referendum on easing Italy's stringent citizenship laws for foreigners, government data showed on Tuesday.

The promoters of the cause want to reduce to five years from 10 the period of residence required to apply for citizenship by naturalisation, and to allow beneficiaries to pass on their new nationality immediately to their children.

An online register curated by the Justice Ministry said the organisers had gathered the 500,000 signatures needed to instigate a popular vote and bypass parliament, where political gridlock has stymied efforts to revise the 1992 citizenship law.

The referendum request must now be reviewed by both the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. If, as expected, it overcomes these hurdles, then a nationwide vote would likely be held sometime in 2025.

If the referendum passes, about 2.5 million foreigners would be able to obtain Italian citizenship, said the organisers, who include the charities Oxfam Italia and ActionAid, and the +Europa party and the Italian Socialist Party.

Italy's ruling right-wing Brothers of Italy and League parties have both pushed back on previous attempts to soften citizenship laws, but another coalition partner, Forza Italia, unexpectedly indicated this summer that it would back change.

The long-standing debate was revived by the success of Italy's multi-cultural athletes at the Paris Olympics, which once again shone an unfavourable light on laws that make it near impossible for the children of foreign residents to obtain an Italian passport.

Italy's citizenship requirements are some of the toughest in Europe, according to the European Commission, with countries such as France, Germany and Belgium all granting nationality after just five years of residence.

In Italy, foreigners often have to wait even longer than 10 years for a passport, with the local bureaucracy normally taking between 24 to 36 months before deciding on an application request, the Commission says.

With Italy's birthrate in sharp decline, economists have long argued that the country needs to attract more foreigners to boost its anaemic economy, but Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said migration is not the solution to the demographic crisis.

Pro-migrant groups will now have to campaign hard to encourage voters to back their initiative, with recent referendums in Italy regularly struggling to draw the necessary 50% turnout to make the ballot valid.

(Reporting by Marta Di Donfrancesco; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Gareth Jones)