AP wrong on ius soli says PD (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, September 26 - 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.