Ius Scholae, the League “steals” Silvio from FI and publishes the video in which it failed him –

Christian Campigli

August 23, 2024

The man who created the center-right. Who dictated a pattern that is still relevant today. And who, in 2017, explained, in great detail, why obtaining citizenship for foreign residents in the country should not go through the ius soli or the ius scholae. The League has indirectly responded to Forza Italia – which for days has been asking to discuss, without ideological constraints, the rules for granting Italian citizenship to regular immigrants – by publishing a video of Silvio Berlusconi on its Instagram profile. The founder, soul and thought of the party now led by Antonio Tajani. The footage refers to a guest appearance, in 2017, of the former prime minister on Fabio Fazio, host (at the time) of the program «Che tempo che fa». The topic, then as then, is the controversial ius soli (and, secondarily, the ius scholae).

Video on this topic

“No, we don’t want ius soli. First of all because the human traffickers would have a strong argument to say: look, in Italy it is much easier to obtain Italian citizenship than in the past. Some of these people that we have had the opportunity to meet still want women segregated and veiled, they hate Christians, they hate Jews, they hate Western civilization, they hate the Italian State. You can’t give them Italian citizenship just because they attended a school, but they are still what they were in their family. And, for example, they have words of understanding for terrorism. It’s not possible.
We say that having attended an Italian school, elementary school in the majority of cases, is not enough to have the automatic right to Italian citizenship”. Very clear concepts, as always happened with the man who revolutionized Italian television. Which demonstrate that Berlusconi was not convinced of either the ius soli or the ius scholae. Just the day before, Matteo Salvini, a guest at the Rimini Meeting, had reiterated his opposition to changes to the law on obtaining Italian citizenship.

“The ius scholae is not a priority and is not on the government’s agenda. I don’t want to create controversy,” Salvini added. “Italy is the European country that grants more citizenships than anyone else. We grant more citizenships to foreign citizens than France, Spain, Germany. So a law that works well should not be changed.” The secretary of the Northern League commented by highlighting a rather obvious paradox: “We would engage in dialogue if the law didn’t work,” the deputy prime minister concluded. “Which country grants the most citizenship in all of Europe with the current law? Italy. The law works. Period.” The position of the Brothers of Italy on the issue is also clear, expressed yesterday by the group leader in the Chamber, Tommaso Foti, who spoke on the Rai program, Agorà: “Let us say one thing to our allies: this issue (the ius soli and the ius scholae) is not in the government program, and it is not even in the individual party programs. The voters voted for a program: it is legitimate to discuss issues outside the program, but there is a well-founded doubt that this is a specular argument of the opposition to create confusion in the majority”. Tajani, meanwhile, does not give up and remains on his positions. Indeed, he warns his allies: “Do not use Berlusconi to create controversy”.