Summary
Italy granted citizenship to Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, due to his Italian ancestry, sparking outrage over the contrast with strict citizenship rules for children of migrants born in Italy.
Critics, including opposition lawmaker Riccardo Magi, called the decision discriminatory, highlighting Italy’s restrictive laws for migrants despite allowing distant descendants of Italians to claim citizenship.
Milei, who has close ties with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is in Rome for political events.
Pro-migrant groups have pushed for reforms, but Meloni’s right-wing government opposes easing citizenship laws.
Hi. I have a question out of genuine curiosity. If a president is granted citizenship of another country, would that not invalidate his presidency? After all, that would have meant he has “given up” on his country to become a citizen of an “another country.”
In these cases being granted citizenship for another country means gaining “dual citizenship”, I.E. he’s a citizen of both countries and thus still eligible for presidency in Argentina.
Yeah but I was under the impression that a president / leader of a country should not have any other citizenship other than the country he is in. Today I learnt something and thank you for for taking your time to explaining it.
In some countries yes, in others no. Apparently Argentina and Italy both allow dual citizenship (i.e. he has not given up Argentine citizenship) and Argentina allows dual citizens to be president.
If he were a member of parliament in Australia, this wouldn’t be possible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_44_of_the_Constitution_of_Australia#(i)_Allegiance_to_a_foreign_power
Thank you for enlightening me on how it works in the Argentinian-Italian context.