Meloni leaves thousands of Argentines without the right to Italian citizenship.

Buenos AiresThe Italian Parliament has passed into law a decree promoted by Giorgia Meloni's government that modifies the process for recognizing Italian citizenship. The Tajani decree—named after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani— limits the blood vessels (right of blood) to two generations of foreigners with Italian ancestry; that is, from now on only those who have parents or grandparents born in Italy will be able to receive a passport. Until last week, the legal principle of blood vessels included the descendants of anyone born in Italy after 1861, the date of the unification process. The news has fallen like a bucket of cold water in Argentina, where some 25 million people—more than half the population—have Italian surnames, and where it is estimated that between 40,000 and 60,000 applications for citizenship will now be discarded or, at least, put on hold.

Italianness in Argentina is constantly manifested: with surnames come family stories, culture, a specific way of speaking and gesturing, as well as gastronomy, traditions, habits, and rituals. It is normal in Buenos Aires for families to eat on the 29th of each month gnocchi Placing banknotes under the plate to attract abundance; at Christmas, vitel toné is eaten – an adaptation of the cold dish tonnato vitello–; it is common to sing the So much omen on a birthday; venerating Saint Francis of Paola—patron saint of Calabria and protector of fishermen—and tango itself, the music that has been exported to the world as "Argentine music," has Italian roots.

Walking through Buenos Aires, you'll come across iconic buildings—such as the Teatro Colón or Congress itself—designed by Italian architects, as well as neighborhood social and sports clubs, Italian schools, and hospitals. All of this is proof of the mutualism and associational spirit rooted in this community, which migrated in different waves between the 19th and 20th centuries with the intention of settling there, and which today is the largest refuge of Italians outside of Italy in the world.

"We often say that we are founding members of Argentina," says Dario Signorini, president of the Committee of Italians Abroad (COMITES) in Buenos Aires, in conversation with ARA. "We've been here since the founding of the Argentine state," he emphasizes, noting that Manuel Belgrano himself—one of Argentina's heroes and a driving force behind its independence from Spain—was of Genoese origin. "Meloni's new law has caused us great displeasure," he says, pointing to a certain "hypocrisy" on the part of the prime minister, who, on an official trip to Argentina, defended the historical ties between the two nations.

The Italian dream, far away

Signorini rejects the idea spread by Meloni that citizenship is a "reward." "Citizenship is a human right, it's a right to identity," he believes, and concludes: "No one is giving us anything." He also notes that the government is demanding a large number of papers proving blood origin, not to mention that the cost of the process has increased by more than 115% in just six months: from around 300 euros in October to more than 600 euros currently. The stories among the people are diverse. Italy is coming soon, first with his son and then with his wife. With the intention of continuing to work as a tennis teacher, what he really wanted was to get to know Europe, a "pending subject" he has in his life. He often writes about the country. Santiago Averso, who is clean, finds "facilities" in having Italian nationality, such as being able to travel or eventually look for a job in Italy "or in the United States," he acknowledges, where obtaining a visa with any European Union passport is easier than with an Argentine passport. The United States is one of the "third countries" which, according to lawyer Sandra Ramajo – a specialist in immigration issues who has lived in Rome since 2011 – would have exerted a certain "pressure" on Italy to limit access to citizenship. "Being an Italian citizen is not a game to get a passport that allows you to go shopping in Miami," she said last year. A serious statement that clashes with the lightheartedness with which Meloni gave Italian citizenship to Argentine President Javier Milei and his sister Karina when they visited the country last December. "[Meloni's] is a gesture that leaves a lot to be desired - Ramajo, the lawyer, tells ARA -.

However, having Italian nationality is the springboard to being able to live in other EU countries, especially Spain, where the language is an incentive for many Argentinians. In Catalonia, in fact, the largest number of nationals According to data from Idescat, in Italy there are only 39,476. In contrast, there are 36,232 people with Argentine nationality, but 60,660 were born in this country. In fact, almost half are Italian.