Referendum on citizenship, boom in signatures collected

The 500 thousand signatures necessary to convene the referendum to amend the law on citizenship have been reached, which aims to halve the years needed for a foreign citizen legally resident in Italy to obtain citizenship from 10 to 5. In the last 24 hours there has been a real boom in registrations on the website www.referendumcittadinanza.it. The deadline was set for September 30th.

He rejoices Riccardo Magisecretary of +Europa: “An extraordinary result resulting from a popular mobilization that we managed to arouse together with all the promoters and to collect through the public platform for digital signatures. A sign that the urgency of a citizenship reform is felt and has remained unanswered by Parliament for years. Citizens know how to recognize good politics and are willing to participate and mobilize.” But he is keen to let it be known that today he has also received “reports from citizens who are unable to sign. Urgent government intervention is needed. The signal of strong participation of citizens is a sign of life of democracy, the government must not be afraid”, adds Magi.

Yesterday, 330 thousand subscriptions were exceeded after 60 thousand clicks arrived in an hour, according to the promoters of +Europa. And precisely because of too many accesses, the digital platform of the Ministry of Justice went haywire several times and was subsequently restored. “Unable to reach the server”, the message that appeared to many users ready to sign but forced to wait and update the site several times. In the end, the platform “collected a total of over 155,000 subscriptions relating to all the referendum questions currently included in the system”.

The supporters

Many, many people from the world of culture, sport, entertainment, academia, journalism, supporters of the initiative launched by various parties (in addition to +Europa, also Possibile, Radicali Italiani, Italian Socialist Party, Rifondazione Comunista ), associations and also signed by political leaders (and mayors), including Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli, deputies of the Greens and Left Alliance who signed yesterday. The secretary of the Democratic Party Elly Schlein in a video on social media he asked citizens to sign for the referendum “against differentiated autonomy, on the minimum wage, a popular initiative law to say that below 9 euros an hour is not work, it is exploitation and cannot be legal. And for the referendum on citizenship. Do it, it takes you two minutes in total: it’s important.”

Per Pierfrancesco Majorinohead of Immigration in the national secretariat of the Democratic Party, “the extraordinary outcome of the mobilization in support of the referendum on citizenship is a wonderful breath of fresh air. There is an Italy that has decided to take part in this great battle of civilizations that we will continue to support with conviction. Citizenship reform can no longer wait. In this spirit we have completed an organic law proposal and we are ready, as we have been reiterating for months, to do everything in Parliament to support all attempts to amend the existing law – concludes Majorino – the democratic and civil mobilization of these days is a sign very clear for the recognition of rights and against any discrimination”. Also Matteo Renzi it’s from the game. “In a week we have to reach half a million. I would be happy for the Enews people to help reach the goal. I will sign online.”

The secretary of the PSI was also satisfied, Enzo Maraio who comments: “Five hundred thousand signatures in just twenty days are proof that Italians, on issues concerning people’s social rights, are far ahead of politics and in particular of the Meloni government”. Maraio adds: “We knew it was a difficult objective when we promoted the referendum with Riccardo Magi and +Europa. Yet, there was an extraordinary response. A response to those in government who used this issue to occupy the pages of newspapers , only to then make a shameful U-turn.”

Many VIPs were also on the pitch. Like the actress Kasia Smutniak which involved users on social media: “By September 30th we have the opportunity to do something concrete. We need to collect 500,000 signatures. Two minutes of time to exercise the only power we have as citizens, the vote.”

An appeal that adds to those of Zerocalcare and Ghali. In a video, the cartoonist asked to “bring back some justice and allow those who live in Italy, live and have relationships here, to have the same rights as others”; on social media the singer invited people to sign the referendum on citizenship because “we need all of us now” (publishing the link in his bio to connect to to sign up and also posting it in a story with a signature counter).

How to sign

To sign the referendum just go to the website www.referendumcittadinanza.it with the spid. From there you connect to the portal of the Ministry of Justice and in a few clicks you sign complete with a receipt. Otherwise you can vote at the promoters’ stands or in their offices, as long as you have an identity document with you.