Italians vote on citizenship rules, labor laws
Italians begin voting on referendums that would make it easier for children born to foreigners to obtain citizenship. PM Giorgia Meloni has urged supporters to skip the vote.
Italians begin voting on referendums that would make it easier for children born to foreigners to obtain citizenship. PM Giorgia Meloni has urged supporters to skip the vote.
Last month’s opinion polls showed that only 46% of Italians were aware of the issues driving the polls.
The vote was triggered by an NGO-led grassroots campaign. According to Italy’s constitution, a referendum can be called if a petition is signed by at least 500,000 voters.
Results are expected after polls close on Monday at 3 p.m. local time (2pm UTC). Over 51 million Italians are eligible to participate in the vote, but the results are only binding with a 50% turnout.
Italy has held 78 referendums, but the results of many of them were not enacted due to not reaching over 50%
Italians vote on citizenship rules, labor laws
Italians are voting on referendums that would make it easier for children born to foreigners to gain citizenship. PM Giorgia Meloni has urged supporters to skip the vote.
Last month’s opinion polls showed that only 46% of Italians were aware of the issues driving the
Polls opened in Italy on Sunday, in a two-day voting session for a referendum that could change citizenship law and labor laws.
The vote was triggered by an NGO-led grassroots campaign. According to Italy’s constitution, a referendum can be called if a petition is signed by at least 500,000 voters.
Results are expected after polls close on Monday at 3 p.m. local time (2pm UTC). Over 51 million Italians are eligible to participate in the vote, but the results are only binding with a 50% turnout.
Italy has held 78 referendums, but the results of many of them were not enacted due to not reaching over 50% turnout.
Italians voting on easing citizenship rules
On the ballot are several questions related to the country’s labor law, while immigration policy, a hotly contested issue in Italy, is one that has recieved the most attention.
Italians will be asked if they support reducing the time required to apply for citizenship that makes it easier for children born to foreigners in Italy to obtain citizenship.
Currently, a non-EU adult resident without marriage or blood ties to Italy must live in the country for 10 years before they can apply for citizenship. The referendum asks to reduce that to 5 years.
Campaigners for the change in the citizenship law say it will help second-generation Italians born in the country to non-EU parents better integrate into a culture they already see as theirs.
They say this reform would bring Italy’s citizenship law in line with many other European countries, including Germany, adding that it would benefit around 2.5 million people.
Italian voters will also choose whether they agree with greater worker protections against dismissal, access to higher severance payments, support for the conversion of fixed-term contracts into permanent ones, and about liability in cases of workplace accidents.