The Italian government has awarded citizenship to Argentinian President Javier Milei based on his Italian familial roots, according to latest reports.
Milei is in Rome to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and attend the Brothers of Italy party’s annual festival on Saturday.
The news in Italian media sparked a furious reaction from some politicians and others on social media who were denouncing Milei’s citizenship, which is difficult to get for the children of migrants born in Italy.
Italy’s citizenship regulations are based on blood links, hence even distant descendants of Italian nationals can receive an Italian passport.
Requirements for foreigners born in Italy or who migrate there, on the other hand, are much tougher.
Pro-migrant groups have proposed a referendum to ease them, but Meloni’s right-wing coalition is against any relaxation.
Riccardo Magi, a lawmaker from the small opposition More Europa party, said granting citizenship to Milei was an act of “intolerable discrimination against so many young people who will only get it after many years.”
During a previous trip to Italy in February, Milei told a TV program that he feels “75% Italian” because three of his grandparents are of Italian descent, and that he has “an incredible passion for Italian opera.”
Milei, a libertarian, and Meloni, a conservative, have developed a close bond.
When they met in Buenos Aires last month, the Argentine leader presented his Italian guest with a figurine of himself holding his characteristic chainsaw.
