Italy grants citizenship to Argentine President Javier Milei

Rome faced criticism on Saturday after it awarded naturalization to the ultra-libertarian Argentine president Javier Milei on an official visit to the Italian capital.

Milei is eligible for citizenship because of his Italian ancestors, but the news sparked a furor among opposition politicians campaigning for the process to be eased for children born in Italy to migrant parents.

What we know about the move

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni received the Argentine president in Rome's Palazzo Chigi on Friday when the Italian news agency ANSA said he received news that the citizenship applications had been granted.

Milei, with his trademark disheveled hair, was in Rome to meet Meloni and take part in a festival on Saturday organized by her far-right Brothers of Italy party.

The two have established a close relationship, with Milei last month giving Meloni a statuette of himself brandishing a chainsaw — a reference to his political campaign rally posturing on public spending cuts.

Milei's Italian grandparents emigrated to Argentina in the early 20th century, and a few months ago, Milei stated that he was "75% Italian."

ANSA said the applications had been initiated by the Italian government in recent weeks with an exclusive fast-track procedure.

The agency said Milei's sister Karina, who was designated General Secretary of the Argentine Presidency by her brother, had also received Italian citizenship too.

Meloni slammed over 'discrimination'

A lawmaker from the +Europa opposition party, Riccardo Magi, said the granting of citizenship to Milei was an "insult" and an act of "intolerable discrimination against so many young people who will only get it after many years."

To apply for citizenship by naturalization, foreigners currently need to live in Italy for 10 years. Children who are born to foreigners in Italy are not eligible to apply for citizenship until they turn 18.

Opposition parties and pro-migrant NGOs are campaigning to cut the period to five years, but Meloni's governing coalition is against any relaxation of the rules.

In a video posted on social media, Magi said that for "millions of Italians without citizenship who were born in Italy, who grew up in our country, who studied here, who work here, who pay taxes in our country — unlike President Milei — having Italian citizenship will remain an ordeal."

rc/zc (AFP, dpa)