Chamber rejects amendments to citizenship law, moves towards approval

The Chamber of Deputies voted and rejected the constitutional objections to the bill amending the Citizenship Law. The text, strongly supported by the League, aims to introduce new restrictions for obtaining Italian citizenship and expand the cases in which it can be revoked.

The opposition harshly criticized the measure, calling it punitive and propagandistic. The vote allowed the bill to overcome one of the procedural hurdles, setting it on course for final approval. The parliamentary week also saw debate on the reorganization of healthcare professions and the question time with Minister Ciriani.

Italy's current citizenship law (Law 91/1992) is based primarily on *ius sanguinis*, or right of blood, meaning that a person is an Italian citizen if born to Italian parents. *Ius soli*, the right linked to the place of birth, is very limited. In recent decades, the debate over citizenship reform has intensified due to the increase in children of immigrants born and raised in Italy—the so-called "second generation"—who often do not automatically acquire citizenship.

Reform proposals have alternated between initiatives to facilitate acquisition (such as *ius culturae* or tempered *ius soli*) and others, like the current one, aimed at tightening criteria and introducing more grounds for revocation. This latter push, carried forward by the government majority, reflects a more selective and conditional vision of citizenship, seen as a reward to be granted only to those who meet stringent requirements and as a status that can be revoked in cases of conduct deemed serious. The parliamentary progress of the measure is thus the latest chapter in a long-standing political and social debate over what it means to be Italian.