Italians first! Yes, but it’s easy to say Italians. Italy is now in the grip of a demographic crisis that in the future could risk undermining the very existence of our country. What to do, then, if birth policies are expensive and insufficient?

According to the center-left, the best solution is to grant citizenship to those born in Italy even if they are not Italian. The ius soli is a practical and hasty remedy that has very few practical legal effects because, currently, apart from the right to vote, no other right is denied to foreigners living in Italy. Fundamental rights are guaranteed to everyone: from the right to health to the right to work and education (and how could it not be so), from freedom of expression to freedom of worship (and woe betide if it were not so).

Why, then, is there so much talk about ius scholae? First of all because Antonio Tajani understood that electorally distinguishing himself from the League and FdI could benefit Forza Italia. The ius scholae is a topic to which, as can also be seen from the debate underway at the Rimini meeting, the Catholic and moderate electorate is very sensitive. At a time when Italia Viva seems to be getting closer to the center-left, it is also useful for the center-right itself that there is a moderate political force like Forza Italia that occupies that political space that looks to Catholics, reformists and guarantors.

Paradoxically, Tajani is doing Giorgia Meloni a favor, so much so that Fratelli d’Italia mostly keeps quiet or tries not to get too polemical with its allies. “It’s not in the government program” is the Lega’s response. And that’s true, but it’s also true that it would be a mistake not to take the Azzurri’s proposal into consideration.

First of all because the consensus for the center-right will not last forever and it would be smart if this government were to deal with the reforms that are most indigestible to its electorate. Let me explain. The left, once in government, could introduce the ius soli instead of the ius scholae which is a citizenship reform much further from the desires of those who vote for the center-right.

Secondly, the left, at least so far, whenever it has been in government has not changed the Bossi-Fini law on immigration or the law on conflict of interest or has never wanted to do so for political convenience. In fact, electorally, it is more convenient to rant against the Bossi-Fini law or against the law on conflict of interest rather than change the legislation and have two less reasons to attack the center-right. Thirdly, it would be convenient for Meloni and Salvini to approve the reform proposed by the Blues precisely to take away one of their hobbyhorses from the opposition and because the ius scholae would be the only reform digestible by the moderate electorate.

“For us, it is not enough to have been registered for five years, we say that a complete course of study is needed, that is, attending compulsory school until the age of 16, with the achievement of a qualification that effectively demonstrates knowledge and study of Italian culture”, Tajani said at the Rimini Meeting organized by Comunione e Liberazione, thus explaining that his idea of ​​reform is very different from the one presented and voted by the center-left in 2017. A law that, if approved, would oblige many foreigners to know the Italian language, history and traditions, all requirements that are not currently required. Currently, in fact, based on the 1992 law, citizenship can also be requested by foreigners who have been resident in Italy for at least ten years as long as they possess certain requirements or by those born and continuously resident in Italy as soon as they reach the age of majority (18). A law that, as Minister Piantedosi recalled, gives Italy the record for citizenships granted in Europe.

So why make such a fuss if the only difference between the current legislation and the Forza Italia bill consists mainly in bringing forward by two years (from 18 to 16) the possibility of obtaining Italian citizenship? It seems rather surreal for both Forza Italia and the League to question the stability of a government for two more years or two less and, therefore, probably, it will all end up in a soap bubble again.