MILLIONS of people are set to lose their claim to Italian citizenship following a bombshell court ruling.
On Thursday, Italy’s Constitutional Court declared it would support a new law proposed by the government in 2025 to cut down on who can legitimately claim Italian heritage and, therefore, citizenship.
The controversial emergency law brought forward last March would wipe out 160 years of Italy‘s proud history of citizenship since it was formally unified in 1861.
One of the first key tenets of the country’s civil code from 1861 states that any child of an Italian citizen is themselves an Italian citizen.
Under the new law, this would no longer be the case, and as such, it has been challenged by several judges who suggest the move is unconstitutional.
However, this challenge has seemingly come to an end after the first hearing of four was held this week and the court spoke out in support of the move.
“The Constitutional Court has declared the questions of constitutional legitimacy raised by the Turin court partially unfounded and partially inadmissible.”
A full verdict on the new law is expected in a few weeks once the other hearings have taken place.
Any Italian who has moved abroad but kept their citizenship can currently pass the right down their family line for generations under the principle known as ius sanguinis, confirmed in law in 1912 and 1992.
But with the new law, only those with parents or grandparents born in Italy will be seen as citizens.
It also stipulates that this is only the case if the parent or grandparent had only Italian citizenship at the birth of their child or grandchild.
“It is a very sad day for millions of people,” citizenship lawyer, Marco Mellone, told CNN.
“Descendants were born Italian citizens. If you are a citizen at birth, you have a right that nobody can touch,”
“You can’t say, ‘what I said when you were born was not true, you’re not an Italian citizen anymore.’ You can’t say, ‘I was joking.’ This is the first step in a long battle.”
Meanwhile, professor Corrado Caruso, who is one of the lawyers to challenge the incoming law, called it a “harsh intervention” that he hoped “would be judged in breach of some constitutional points.”
However, the government believes it is time for an overhaul to crack down on people “abusing” the nation’s citizenship principles.
“Being an Italian citizen is a serious matter, the granting of citizenship is a serious matter,” Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said last March.
“Unfortunately, over the years, there have been abuses and requests for citizenship that went a bit beyond the true interest of our country.”
