The junior government partner
Popular Area (AP) is "wrong" in its opposition to a ius soli
immigrant children citizenship law, the spokesman of the senior
partner, the centre-left Democratic Party, Matteo Richetti, said
Tuesday.
"We will continue to seek the numbers" to pass the bill in
the Senate, he said.
He said the law must be passed "because it creates
integration and is a response to anxiety and fear".
"There is no wrong time for a sacrosanct right," he said.
Richetti spoke after AP 's new national coordinator Maurizio
Lupi, a former transport minister, said AP was still against a
law that would give Italian citizenship to the children of
long-term immigrants who have completed at least five years in
the Italian school system.
"The issue is closed and we don't expect the government to
stretch the case any longer," said Lupi.
Ius soli is Latin for "law of the soil".
Currently immigrants' children can apply for citizenship at
the age of 18.
The proposed law, which has become bogged down in the Senate
after being passed by the House, would lower that to 10-12 years
of age.
The government, led by centre-left Democratic Party (PD)
Premier Paolo Gentiloni, has vowed to pass the bill before the
legislative term ends next spring.
The PD and AP have been sparring over the issue for months.
AP leader Angelino Alfano, the foreign minister, has called
it the right measure at the wrong time amid a migrant crisis -
despite a recent sharp drop in arrivals from Libya.
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