Tajani Says All Italian-Descendants Are Equal, But 2025 Decree Said Otherwise

Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, stated on September 1st that all Italian citizens abroad receive "the same spirit" of service from the Farnesina, Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, this statement contrasts sharply with the text of Decree-Law No. 36/2025, signed by Tajani himself less than a year and a half earlier, which classified some descendants of Italians abroad as a risk to the country's national security.

What Tajani Said Now

According to Italianismo, Tajani made the statement during a review of Farnesina operations throughout the European summer, a period of peak consular activity due to travel, emergencies, and services to Italian citizens residing abroad. On that occasion, the minister reinforced that all Italians, regardless of where they live, are treated equally by the Italian government.

The remarks reinforce a discourse of unity that Giorgia Meloni's government has sought to project regarding the Italian diaspora, estimated at millions of people spread across countries like Argentina, the United States, and Brazil. But the assertion of equal treatment stands out precisely because it comes from the same minister who signed one of the most restrictive changes ever made to the rules for recognizing Italian citizenship by descent.

What the 2025 Decree Said

Decree-Law No. 36, issued on March 28, 2025, according to Italianismo, had direct involvement from Giorgia Meloni's government and Tajani himself in its preparation and presentation. The text, later converted into Law 74/2025, promoted a profound reform of the rules for recognizing citizenship by descent (jure sanguinis), restricting the administrative and consular pathway to children and grandchildren of Italians—excluding great-grandchildren and later generations from this more direct route.

According to Italianismo, the decree's text actually classified the growth in the number of potential citizens without effective ties to Italy as a "serious and current risk to the country's national security." The official justification pointed to the need to contain what the government called the "instrumental" use of Italian citizenship by people without genuine ties through cohabitation, language, or residence in Italian territory.

This change directly impacted those seeking Italian citizenship by descent, especially families whose family tree traces back to great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents as immigrants, now barred from using the consular pathway or direct recognition in the Italian comune.

The Contradiction Highlighted

The point of tension lies precisely in the distance between the more recent public discourse and the formal content of the decree. The same government—and the same minister—who today claim to treat "with the same spirit" all Italian citizens abroad classified, just over a year before, a significant portion of that same diaspora as a risk factor for the Italian State.

According to Italianismo, the Committee for Legislation of the Chamber of Deputies (Comitato per la Legislazione), a technical body of the Italian Parliament that analyzes the quality and legal coherence of legislative bills, formally noted that the rule affected "fundamental interests" of the State, a sign that Italy's legislative structure itself recognized the weight and exceptional nature of the measure at the time of its processing.

The March 2025 decree treated the growth of descendants without effective ties to Italy as a "serious and current risk to the country's national security," according to a passage cited by Italianismo.

It is important to note that the retroactivity of Decreto Tajani is not limited to backlogged administrative processes: the text declares, in practice, that anyone born outside Italy without being a child or grandchild of an Italian could never have been an Italian citizen—affecting the very material right that the person carried from birth, based on descent. This specific issue is now being analyzed by the Sezioni Unite (United Sections) of the Corte di Cassazione, whose decisions are binding on all judges in the country.

Why It Matters to Brazilian Descendants

Brazil is home to one of the largest communities of Italian descendants outside Italy, with millions of people who, over recent decades, have sought recognition of citizenship by descent as a way to reclaim the nationality of immigrant great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. This population was directly affected by the new rules of Decreto Tajani, which closed the consular and administrative pathway for those who are not direct children or grandchildren of an Italian, leaving only the judicial route as an alternative, now also subject to the restrictions of the new legislation.

The issue remains open: the interpretation of the new citizenship law continues to be debated in the Italian judiciary, which could alter the scenario again for those who have already filed a lawsuit or intend to do so. It is worth noting that cases filed before the decree's entry into force benefit from protections provided in the text of the rule itself, which should not be confused with the discussion about the retroactivity of material law itself, still pending definition by the Sezioni Unite.

For those following the issue closely, it is recommended to stay updated on Italy News from Raízes Italianas and seek qualified guidance before making decisions about the process, given the still unstable legal landscape. Information on procedures, documentation, and searching for certificates in Italy also remain relevant despite recent changes to legislation.

The discrepancy between the official discourse of equality and the content of the 2025 decree illustrates the complexity of the moment experienced by Italian politics regarding its diaspora: on one hand, a rhetorical effort to draw closer to millions of descendants scattered around the world; on the other, legislation that in practice redesigned—and restricted—who can be recognized as Italian by descent. For those living this impasse closely, monitoring judicial decisions in Italy and news about Italian Citizenship remains the only way to understand, in practice, what changes with each new chapter of this legal dispute.

Do you want to know if you have the right to Italian citizenship? Talk to a specialized advisory service.

Source: Italianismo