It is an opening. Although timid, it is still an open-mindedness. The theme of Ius scholae dominates the meeting of Communion and Liberation in Rimini. And the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi explains that the problem exists, that it must be addressed and explored: “I would not like to anticipate somewhat complicated discussions in our day, but we must ask ourselves the problem of how to make migrants our citizens.” From the same event, in a press briefing, also comes the closing of the Minister of Infrastructure and leader of the League Matteo Salvini: “The law that works cannot be changed.”
The majority positions
It all started with the volleyball player and Olympic gold medalist Paola Egonu. It continued with the mural that the street artist Laika dedicated to her and then with the controversy following the remarks of General Roberto Vannacci. But the issue of the Ius scholae, or law that makes any foreigner who completes at least one school cycle in our country an Italian citizen, had also plunged the majority into fibrillation. On the one hand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani recognized the change underway in our country and therefore the validity of the law, so-called because it appeared in the programs of the late leader of Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi. On the other hand, Salvini's “no”, reiterated in Rimini: “It is not a priority, it is not on the government's agenda. Italy is the European country that grants the most citizenships. We grant more citizenships to foreign citizens than France, Spain and Germany. So the law says that it is fine, it cannot be changed.” Piantedosi himself agrees with this: “I believe, however – added Piantedosi – that this debate must be conducted without ideological conditioning. We must start from an observation: our legislation is the one that allows the greatest number of concessions in all of Europe. We are the first country for concessions in absolute terms of citizenship. In some cases, we reach almost double that of countries like Germany and France.” But the Minister of the Interior explains: “We do not have a framework of total closure.”
“Don’t just satisfy basic needs”
Piantedosi's reasoning extends from the simple numerical ratio: “We must satisfy this tendency of each person to find a role and to feel useful in society.” And he adds that the sustainability of migratory processes “is also nourished by the fact that these are people whose centrality in society must be imagined, wherever they come from.” “It is not enough to satisfy only primary needs,” the minister continues, “but we must ask ourselves the problem of how to make these people 'our citizens'.” And he concludes: “If this discussion serves to update the panorama of assessments that a country like ours must make on this important issue of new citizens, it is good and it must be done. In my opinion, the discussion that has been raised must serve to open an assessment that must also be a little technical: doing it in the light of concrete and realistic data could help us not to deny the problem and to reject it to the sender, but help us to do something more targeted and more important for our needs, which are the maximum integration of the people who arrive. It is not only about economic needs, but also about housing, cultural and membership needs. Let us ask ourselves what is necessary to complete a path that, in Italy, has led to the results we have today.”
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