The Latin American Continental Commission of the Italian General Council in the East, meeting in Curitiba from 27 to 29 November 2025, launched a strong call on the need to strengthen the representation of the communities and ensure a stable and equal relationship with the country of origin on three strategic axes: consular services, citizenship and promotion of Italian language and culture, on which it approved specific agendas.
At the heart of the reflections the recent reform of citizenship and its strong impact on the Italian community of Latin America. The new rules have tightened the conditions of access to recognition and transmission of citizenship, in particular affecting italodiscendents who, although they have retained identity, are today excluded from the perimeter of Italianity. As in the case of the descendants of the compatriots from the former territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose parents are Italian citizens for the benefit of law but cannot pass on citizenship, or of the underage children of Italian citizens born abroad, whose right to be recognized Italians is limited by a temporal term.
Aspects that contrast with the principle of equality enshrined in Article 3 of the Constitution and question the right to transmit their identity to children on the basis, in fact, of the place of birth or of historical events not attributable to people. In this sense, the Commission, recalling the indications of the President of the Republic and the opening of Minister Tajani to corrections to the reform, hopes that the parliaments elected abroad will work on a unitary regulatory solution that takes into account the principles and proposals contained in the document approved by the Plenary Assembly of the CGIE.
At the same time, the reform submitted consular offices to an additional workload, linked to more complex checks and often redundant procedures. The Commission points out the increasingly widespread practice of requiring users of documents already in possession of the Administration, in contrast with the DPR 445/2000 and calls for a decisive intervention in order to uniform the criteria at least at the level of a single country, enhancing the good practices already existing and reducing the bureaucratic burden on citizens.
On the side of the consular organization, while recognizing some improvements – in particular for the release of passports – the Commission denounces that the new assumptions have not been translated into a real strengthening of the staff and detects “system inability” to cover the available places in the face of the constant growth of AIRE members. Hence the demand for a dedicated incentive plan, which makes service offices in the Latin American area really attractive for role staff and promotes stable resource programming.
It also calls for a structural review of the FastIt and Prenot@mi digital platforms to make them more intuitive, transparent and safe, introducing dual authentication mechanisms that contrast the illicit intermediation and guarantee effective access to services.
Ample space has been dedicated to the promotion of Italian language and culture with the contribution of the President of the IV Thematic Commission of the CGIE Lidia Campanale, the theme on which was expressed concern for the effects of the Ministerial Circle 4 and which will be the subject of a webinar with the managers of the area to clarify the most complex passages and collect indications from the territory: many realities that have been operating for years, in fact, no longer present projects or avoid the registration of the consular register for the excessive complexity of the fulfillments; others evaluate the exit from the system precisely while the demand for Italian grows, especially among the italodiscendents.
In this context, the decision is welcomed to bring back the skills on language and culture to the DGIT of the MAECI and hopes for a review of the Circular that widens access to the management bodies, enhancing historical associative realities and new experiences. The Commission recalls the spirit of Law 153/1971, which was born to keep the Italian language alive in immigrant families and among their descendants, and identifies in the formation of Italian adults the “new frontier” of linguistic promotion: most AIRE members in Latin America have never had Italian in the school course and has only fragmentary offers, often linked to the good will of the communities.
The Commission also intervened on the issue of representation by a majority in favour of the conduct of the Com.It.Es elections. at the natural expiration. However, it calls for the adoption of concrete instruments to promote participation: a comprehensive information campaign, the anticipation of at least six months of the term to subscribe to the electoral lists and the possibility of permanent inscriptions.
On the reform of the Institutional Law of the CGIE, recalling the work of the III Thematic Commission, it has been pointed out that the current mechanism of distribution of the territorial councilors risks expanding the representation of some countries, eliminating that of others present today and continuing to exclude strong growth realities such as Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia and the Central American and Caribbean countries. The Commission has proposed correctives that take into account, in addition to AIRE members, even the oryunds and the existence of communities organized with Com.It.Es. active, considering the hypothesis of territorial shortcomings for representation.
Finally, it has been emphasized that the Museo dell’Immigrazione Italiana in Buenos Aires, promoted by Com.It.Es., and the project “ItAleano”, fruit of the collaboration between the Comites of Córdoba and the Honorary Consular Agency of Villa María, constitute examples of how historical memory, innovation and linguistic promotion can intertwine.
L’articolo CGIE, the Continental Commission Latin America in Curitiba: more guardians on citizenship, services and democratic participation comes from IlNewyorkese.
