Italy proposes stripping citizenship from naturalised convicts
Two Italian right-wing parties have proposed revoking citizenship from naturalised citizens convicted of serious crimes, a move that threatens legal certainty for foreign workers and reflects a growing European trend toward conditional nationality.
Two bills presented in Italy’s parliament on Wednesday seek to revoke the citizenship of naturalised Italians convicted of serious crimes such as homicide, human trafficking, female genital mutilation and sexual violence. The proposals, brought simultaneously by the League and Brothers of Italy, represent a marked escalation in how the country regulates naturalised residents.
Under current Italian law, stripping citizenship is extremely rare, having been applied only twice in the seven years since a 2018 League-backed law introduced the practice for terrorism convictions. The new legislation would dramatically widen this scope to include those who gained nationality through marriage, the standard ten-year residency route, or the children of immigrants who claim citizenship at 18. Because those born to Italian parents would remain exempt regardless of criminal convictions, the bills effectively create a two-tiered system of nationality.
For European businesses and the mobile workforce, this shift introduces significant legal uncertainty. While acquiring citizenship through marriage is currently a mechanical process, naturalisation via residency already involves bureaucratic discretion. Turning citizenship into a provisional privilege means dual-national professionals and investors working in Italy could have their right to remain subjected to shifting political definitions of acceptable behaviour. League leader Matteo Salvini articulated this conditional approach in May, stating that Italian citizenship “cannot be for life” and should be viewed as “an act of trust from the Italian people.”
Italy’s government has already spent the past year blocking thousands from claiming citizenship through ancestry, a policy currently being challenged in the courts. However, the trend toward revoking citizenship is not confined to Rome. In the UK, the Home Secretary can already strip citizenship from dual nationals if deemed “conducive to the public good.” The US administration is pursuing an expanded "denaturalisation" campaign. Within the EU, Sweden is amending its constitution to allow the revocation of dual citizenship, having already broadened the criteria from terrorism and treason to the vaguer offence of harming “Sweden’s vital interests.” Swedish Green MP Annika Hirvonen warned that “opening this door up is a really dangerous path.”
The political impetus for Rome’s legislation stems from the rise of an extreme anti-immigrant competitor ahead of next year’s general election. Roberto Vannacci’s National Future party recently overtook the League in polls by promising mass deportations. Whether or not these parliamentary bills become law, the political debate surrounding them treats foreign-born residents as potential criminals, fundamentally altering the legal security of Europe's labour market.
