Europe Interior Minister suggested that all nomad children born in Italy be granted citizenship

19 Jul 2008 |

• The Romanian daily ‘Nine o’clock’ reports that the Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni offers every Roma child born in Italy be granted the Italian citizenship. According to the author of the article, this statement is surprising considering the fact that Maroni wanted every person living in nomad camps in Italy to be fingerprinted earlier this month. Maroni argues that: “Many children living in nomad camps, even if they have parents of a different ethnic background, are born in Italy. For them we should make an exception, not for Jus sanguinis, but for humanitarian reasons.” Nevertheless, many Roma support organizations like “Opera Nomadi” consider that the number of unaccompanied Roma children in Italy is relatively low since Roma live in and travel with family clans. The president of the organization, Massimo Converso thinks that: “the first priority is to send Roma children to school because it will be difficult to establish the criteria for granting citizenship in each particular case.”