Expatriate voting: the shifting approach of Italian policy makers since 2001

Chiara De Lazzari

This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Health, Arts and Design Swinburne University of Technology

2017

Abstract

Since 2001 Italian citizens living permanently in foreign countries can cast their vote and elect their overseas representatives for the Italian parliament. The inclusion of the Italian transnational community in Italian elections has over time created major concerns in the political arena since the elections in 2006 when votes from abroad determined the political outcome of the elections in Italy. This event generated a new debate amongst political parties and members of the institutions on the legitimacy of the expatriate voting system. This study explores the motivations that guided policy makers to introduce the expatriate voting policy in Italy to ascertain whether and how Italian policy makers have shifted their perspective in regard to the political participation of the Italian transnational community. This research also analyses the issues identified by policy makers in relation to the current expatriate voting policy since 2006 and to make predictions about the future of this policy in Italy. The study used a qualitative approach with 24 semi-structured in-depth interviews with policy makers. These included members of political parties, members of institutions, academics and experts in the field. Moreover, this research includes the document analysis of proposals submitted by MPs and Senators to review the expatriate voting policy since 2006 and the analysis of electoral turnout and electoral preferences in the foreign constituency. This research considers policy makers, such as political parties’ members and members of institutions, the most important players in the discussion and re-definition of political transnationalism in Italy. This study provides a new and original perspective in the analysis of political transnationalism in relation to the role of migrant sending countries. Moreover, the research highlights the role of (self) interest of political parties in relation to this form of political transnationalism.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Swinburne University of Technology for believing in my project and for allowing me to conduct this research. I would like to thank my supervisors Assoc. Prof. Bruno Mascitelli and Dr Glenda Ballantyne for their support during my candidature. Their guidance has been instrumental in the completion of the thesis. In particular, I would like to thank Bruno for his support, patience and trust during this long Ph.D. journey. I would like to thank the participants of this study. They have shown great interest in this project and their contribution has been crucial for conducting the research. I would like to thank my colleagues and friends Catherine, Luca and Maren. Sharing this journey with them has been a great adventure. I have learned a lot from them and I feel extremely lucky to have had such positive working environment over these four years. I would like to thank my entire family that has always believed in me and they have been of great support in spite the distance. Last but not least, I would like to thank my partner Marco who left Italy to join me in this Australian adventure. He supported and encouraged me throughout this long journey, even when I had doubts. No words can describe the gratitude and love.

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Declaration

I, Chiara De Lazzari, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy from the Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia:

• Contains no material which has been accepted for the award to myself of any other degree or diploma, except where due reference is made in the text of this thesis;

• To the best of my knowledge contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis;

• Has been approved by Swinburne University Human Research Ethics Committee (SUHREC), Application 2014/55 and I certify that all conditions pertaining to this ethics clearance have been properly met and that annual reports of a final report have been submitted.

Signed,

Chiara De Lazzari

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Table of Contents

Abstract ...... i Acknowledgments ...... ii Declaration ...... iii Table of Contents ...... iv List of Tables and Figures ...... viii List of Abbreviations ...... x CHAPTER 1 ...... 1 Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Introduction ...... 1 1.1.1 Italian migration and political transnationalism ...... 3 1.2 Personal reasons for conducting this study ...... 4 1.3 The research context ...... 6 1.4 The purpose of the study ...... 7 1.5 Terminology ...... 9 1.6 Outline of the thesis ...... 12 1.7 Conclusion ...... 14 CHAPTER 2 ...... 15 Literature review ...... 15 2.1 Introduction ...... 15 2.2 Migration theories ...... 16 2.2.1 International migration and classification of migrants ...... 16 2.2.2 Overview of migration theories ...... 18 2.2.3 Transnational society and contemporary migration theories ...... 21 2.3 Transnationalism theory ...... 22 2.3.1 Classification of transnational states ...... 24 2.3.2 Globalisation and the redefinition of nation states ...... 25 2.4 Political transnationalism ...... 27 2.5.2 Citizenship and political rights ...... 30 2.6 Expatriate voting policies around the world ...... 31 2.7 Italian expatriate voting in the literature ...... 33 2.7.1 The Expatriate voting policy (law 459/2001) ...... 35 2.8 Italian citizenship ...... 38 2.9 Gap in the literature ...... 41 2.10 Conclusion ...... 42 CHAPTER 3 ...... 43 Research methodology ...... 43 3.1 Introduction ...... 43 3.2 Purpose of the research ...... 43 3.2.1 Research questions ...... 44

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3.3 Research design ...... 44 3.5 Sample selection ...... 45 3.5.1 List of participants ...... 47 3.5.2 Ethics approval ...... 48 3.6 Data collection ...... 49 3.6.1 Documents and online data ...... 49 3.6.2 Semi-structured in-depth interviews ...... 50 3.6.3 Field work and data collection method ...... 51 3.6.4 Translation ...... 52 3.7 Data analysis ...... 52 3.7.1 Thematic Analysis ...... 52 3.8 Validity and reliability ...... 53 3.8.1 Role of the researcher ...... 54 3.8.2 Limitations ...... 54 3.9 Conclusion ...... 55 CHAPTER 4 ...... 56 The history of Italian migration and the expatriate voting policy ...... 56 4.2 History of Italian migration ...... 57 4.2.1 The AIRE registry for Italians abroad ...... 61 4.3 Perceptions on migration ...... 64 4.4 The Italian expatriate vote ...... 66 4.4.1 From 1901 to the period of Fascism ...... 67 4.4.2 The expatriate voting debate from the 1940s to 1980s ...... 68 4.4.3 The 1980s and creation of representing bodies for Italians abroad ...... 71 4.4.4 The expatriate voting debate through the law proposals ...... 72 4.4.5 The 1990s and the role of Mirko Tremaglia ...... 75 4.4.6 The relations within the governing coalitions in 2000 and 2001 ...... 76 4.4.7 The Italian Expatriate Vote Law ...... 78 4.4.8 The Italian Electoral Law ...... 80 4.5 Citizenship law and dual citizenship ...... 81 4.5.1 Citizenship policies in receiving countries ...... 82 4.5.2 The reaffirmation of the ius sanguinis principle ...... 83 4.5.3 The law 92/1992 and the inclusion of dual citizenship ...... 85 4.6 Conclusion ...... 86 CHAPTER 5 ...... 87 Electoral participation in the foreign constituency and the response of political parties ...... 87 5.1 Introduction ...... 87 5.2 Electoral results and the impact of the votes from abroad ...... 88 5.2.1 The 2006 elections ...... 88 5.2.2 The 2008 elections ...... 92 5.2.3 The 2013 elections ...... 93 5.3 Electoral participation from abroad ...... 96 5.3.1 Electoral turnout in elections from the Foreign Constituency ...... 97 5.3.2 Participation in the Referenda ...... 100

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5.4 Difficulties in the implementation of the expatriate voting system ...... 102 5.4.1 The voting by correspondence system ...... 102 5.4.2 Registration on the AIRE registry ...... 104 5.4.3 Passive electorate and the representatives of Italians abroad ...... 105 5.4.4 Italians temporarily abroad ...... 106 5.5 Document analysis of law proposals ...... 107 5.5.1 Content of the proposals ...... 108 5.5.2 Analysis of the proposals ...... 118 5.6 Conclusion ...... 122 CHAPTER 6 ...... 123 A new understanding of expatriate voting: the policy makers’ perspective ...... 123 6.1 Introduction ...... 123 6.2 Opportunism and compromise: the creation of the foreign constituency ...... 124 6.2.1 The Political Participation of Italian emigrants and the role of Mirko Tremaglia ...... 124 6.2.2 The Foreign Constituency and the Left Wing Support ...... 128 6.2.3 The role of the transnational communities in supporting the policy ...... 130 6.2.4 The 2006 elections: from Right to Left ...... 131 6.3 Current debate on the expatriate voting policy ...... 134 6.3.1 Forza Italia and Partito Democratico (PD) ...... 134 6.3.2 Five Star Movement (M5S) ...... 135 6.3.3 The costs of expatriate voting ...... 137 6.3.4 The Committee of the “Wise men” ...... 139 6.3.5 Policy makers in favour ...... 140 6.3.6 Participation from overseas ...... 142 6.3.7 Italians overseas: a complicated (political) matter ...... 143 6.4 Political participation and voting system in the foreign constituency ...... 144 6.4.1 Electoral lists for Italian emigrants ...... 145 6.4.2 Constitutional changes: the reduction of representation in parliament ...... 149 6.4.3 Reconsideration of the voting by correspondence system ...... 150 6.4.4 E-voting ...... 152 6. 5 Included and excluded: Italians permanently and temporarily overseas ...... 155 6.5.1 Issues related to the AIRE registry ...... 155 6.5.2 Italians temporarily overseas ...... 157 6.6 Conclusion ...... 162 CHAPTER 7 ...... 163 Citizenship rights and the legitimacy of the expatriate voting policy ...... 163 7.1 Introduction ...... 163 7.2 History of the Italian citizenship policy ...... 164 7. 2.1 Migration waves and conflicting citizenship policies ...... 164 7.2.2 The implementation of the first citizenship policy ...... 165 7.2.3 Bilateral agreement and the advent of the dual citizenship practice ...... 167 7.2.4 Current Italian citizenship policy ...... 168 7.3 Dual citizenship and the “Ancestor Hunt” ...... 169 7.3.1 Dual citizenship and citizens’ loyalty ...... 170 7.3.2 Advantages in obtaining an Italian passport ...... 171 7.4 Citizenship and citizenship rights ...... 172

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7.4.1 Political and voting rights ...... 174 7.4.2 Boundaries for the transmission of citizenship rights ...... 175 7.5 The legitimacy of the political participation from overseas ...... 177 7.5.1 Voting rights by residency ...... 179 7.6 Reacquisition of citizenship ...... 181 7.7 Conclusion ...... 184 CHAPTER 8 ...... 186 Conclusion ...... 186 8.1 Introduction ...... 186 8.2 Reasons for the implementation of the expatriate voting policy in Italy ...... 186 8.3 Current debate on political transnationalism in Italy ...... 190 8.4 National identity and political identity ...... 195 8.5 Citizenship rights or privileges? ...... 197 8.5.1 Limitation of citizenship rights for Italians living abroad ...... 200 8.6 Residency and political participation ...... 201 8.7 Answers to the research questions ...... 203 8.8 Contribution to the literature ...... 206 8.9 Contribution to knowledge ...... 207 8.10 Recommendations ...... 208 8.11 Area of further research ...... 209 Bibliography ...... 210 Appendix 1 ...... 226 Appendix 2 ...... 231

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List of Tables and Figures

Tables Table 3.1 List of participants…………………………………………………….47

Table 4.1 Italian Emigration 1876-1985………………………………………...61

Table 5.1 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2006 for the Chamber of Deputies……………………………………………………………….89

Table 5.2 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2006 for the Senate….89

Table 5.3 Total preferences and seat allocation in the Senate in 2006 elections..91

Table 5.4 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2008 for the Chamber of Deputies……………………………………………………………….92

Table 5.5 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2008 for the Senate….93

Table 5.6 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2013 for the Chamber of Deputies……………………………………………………………….95

Table 5.7 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2013 for the Senate….95

Table 5.8 Registry of Italians residing abroad…………………………………..97

Table 5.9 Participation in the foreign constituency in the 2006, 2008 and 2013 elections in the Chamber of Deputies………………………………...98

Table 5.10 Participation in the foreign constituency in the 2006, 2008 and 2013 elections in the Senate……………………………………….……….98

Table 5.11 Turnout per electoral year in each district of the foreign constituency in the Chamber of Deputies……………………………………………..99

Table 5.12 Turnout per electoral year in each district of the foreign constituency in the Senate…………………………………………………………….99

Table 5.13 Turnout from abroad in referenda…………………………………...101

Table 5.14 Number of proposals submitted to eliminate the foreign constituency or modify law 459/2001………………………………………………..108

Table 5.15 Proposals submitted in the Chamber of Deputies, XV legislature (2006- 2008)…………………………………………………………………110

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Table 5.16 Proposals submitted in the Senate, XV legislature (2006-2008)……111

Table 5.17 Proposals submitted at the Chamber of Deputies, XVI legislature (2008- 2013)………………………………………………………………....111

Table 5.18 Proposals submitted in the Senate, XV legislature (2006-2008)……114

Table 5.19 Proposals submitted in the Chamber of Deputies, XVII legislature (2013- current)………………………………………………………………115

Table 5.20 Proposals submitted in the Senate, XVII legislature (2013- current) ……………………………………………………………………….118

Figures Figure 4.1 The Italian foreign constituency………………………………………79

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List of Abbreviations

AAOA Africa, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica

ACLI Associazione Cristiane dei Lavoratori Italiani

AIRE Anagrafe Italiana Residenti all’ Estero

AN Alleanza Nazionale

Aut Per le Autonomie

CGIE Consiglio Generale Residenti all’ Estero

Com.It.Es Comitati degli Italiani all’ Estero

CNEL Comitato Nazionale per l’Economia ed il Lavoro

DC Democrazia Cristiana

DCA Democrazia Cristiana per le Autonomie

DS Democratici di Sinistra

EEC European Economic Community

EU European Union

FI Forza Italia

FILEF Federazione Italiana dei Lavoratori e Famiglie

GFC Global Financial Crisis

IDEA International Institute for Democracy and Electioral Assistance

IDOS Immigrazione Dossier Statistico

IdV Italia dei Valori

IFE Istituto Fedelaral Electoral

LN Lega Nord

M5S Movimento Cinque Stelle

MAIE Movimento Associativo all’ Estero

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MP Member of Parliament

MPA Movimento per le Autonomie

MSI Movimento Sociale Italiano

PCI Partito Comunista Italiano

PD Partito Democratico

PdL Popolo delle Liberta’

PDS Partito Democratico della Sinistra

PI Per l’ Italia

PM Prime Minister

PRI Partito Repubblicato

SCpI Scelta Civica per l’ Italia

SEL Sinistra Econologia e Liberta’

UN United Nations

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction

1.1 Introduction

Migration waves and people movement represent a phenomenon that has intensified over recent decades and, for this reason, international migration has become the subject of numerous studies conducted by international, national and independent institutions. In the twentieth century, international migration severely affected European countries many of which became, at the same time, receiving and sending countries (Castles, De Haas & Miller 2013). Two World Wars impacted heavily on some European countries, forcing their citizens to emigrate to other countries in Europe or to other continents. At the same time, some European countries “welcomed” many emigrants from European countries and from other parts of the world. While in previous centuries migration waves were logistically challenging, in the era of globalisation, movement has become more accessible to many. Despite the evolution of technologies, infrastructure and the different historical phases, the reasons that fostered past and current emigration waves appear to be similar. Conflicts and economic causes are still the most common reasons that force people to relocate to foreign countries (Castles, De Haas & Miller 2013). While technical and infrastructural evolution have facilitated the relocation of people to other countries, over the last decades, nation states have also been able to explore new ways to maintain connections with emigrant citizens. Sending countries started to explore new practices and policies to reconnect with their emigrants in order to include them in the life of the country of origin. One of the differences between yesterday and today is that in current times maintaining connections with citizens living abroad has become a common and accepted practise among nation states. Nation-states have been able, to some extent, to bypass the traditional idea of national power within borders, implementing policies that can affect their citizens living outside the national borders. Domestic policies that engage with non-resident citizens have different socio-economic and political natures,

1 depending on the level of interest nation states have towards the engagement of their expatriate communities. The most significant changes introduced by nation states to engage with transnational communities are related to the political inclusion of emigrants in the life of the country of origin. The political inclusion of emigrants in the political dynamics of the sending countries has been defined in the literature as political transnationalism and is one of the many different forms of transnationalism that countries have been implementing through policies over the past decades (IDEA & IFE 2007, Hutchenson & Arrighi 2015). The inclusion of emigrants in the domestic life of the sending country can be achieved through policies that focus on economic and cultural questions. The area of interest of this research is the political inclusion of non-resident citizens and for this reason, political transnationalism is the principle area of investigation in this study. Emigrants can be included in the political life of the country of origin in different ways, depending on the degree of engagement chosen by the countries of origin. In the international scenario it is possible to find a very large number of countries that have implemented policies to facilitate the political engagement of non-resident citizens. According to IDEA and IFE (2007) there are 115 countries that have implemented policies for the political engagement of their citizens living abroad. There are a variety of forms for the political inclusion in the domestic political life of a nation for citizens living abroad (Collyer & Vathi 2007). These forms consider different levels of engagement of citizens living abroad, depending on the importance given to the transnational community in the political system of the sending country. For instance, one method allows citizens to cast votes only for presidential elections such as Brazil. Another example is when citizens living abroad can vote in political elections but their votes merge in home districts like in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The most inclusive method for the engagement of the transnational community in the political life of the country of origin is the creation of foreign constituencies like in the case of Italy. These constituencies are created within expatriate voting policies to allow citizens living abroad to cast their votes and elect their representatives in the homeland parliament. According to Collyer & Vathi (2007) this system can be considered the most inclusive system countries can implement for the inclusion of non-resident citizens. Although this practice is not the most popular method among

2 nation states, since the beginning of the twenty-first century this practice has become very attractive for some European nations.

1.1.1 Italian migration and political transnationalism

Amongst European countries, Italy is one of the countries that has experienced one of the most significant emigration exodus. As a consequence, the presence of Italian citizens in foreign countries facilitated the creation of strong transnational communities. Over the centuries, countries that have become the location of Italian settlements include European countries, Latin American countries and Australia (Castles 1992: 37, Audenino & Tirabassi 2008: 24). Even in modern times, the presence of Italian citizens in foreign countries is considered to be high. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Italy suggests that there are more than 60 million people with Italian background living outside the Italian borders (Gallo & Tintori 2006: 132). Prior to the 1980s, the poltical engagement of transnational communities was discussed in general terms but policy makers had never been able to submit a proposal to tacke this issue. By the end of the 1980s, however, Italy had started to reconsider the role of its citizens living outside Italian borders (Mafioletti & Colaiacono 2004). This interest transformed into the implementation of policies to facilitate a legal reconnection of Italian citizens and their descendants living abroad within the Italian domestic political system (Mascitelli & Battiston 2008). The process started in the 1980s with the implementation of the Committees for the representation of Italian citizens living abroad. The final step that completed the process of inclusion of Italian emigrants and their descendants in the Italian political arena was the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Italian constitution and the implementation of the expatriate voting policy in 2001. This policy allows Italian citizens living permanently abroad to vote in Italian elections and to elect their representatives in the Italian parliament. The object of this research is to investigate the reasons why Italy decided to include Italian emigrants who live permanently abroad and their descendants in the Italian electoral system with the creation of a specially-made representation of Italian transnational community in the Italian parliament. The research focuses on the domestic political drivers and on the dynamics amongst the members of political parties, Italian institutions and the transnational community. The focus of the research

3 is to understand the motivations that brought the Italian parliament to vote in favour of the political inclusion of the transnational community and whether their views have changed since 2001. The theoretical framework of this study includes transnationalism theories and the normative discussion on political transnationalism. These theories have contributed to identify the key elements of discussion of and motivation for the implementation of expatriate voting policies. Moreover, the study analyses the increasing role of expatriate citizens in the politics of the country of origin in light of the Italian citizenship policies and the transmission of Italian citizenship rights. The inclusion of citizenship theories and the discussion of the concept of national identity have been crucial in the consideration of the role of the transnational community in countries of origin.

1.2 Personal reasons for conducting this study

According to Marshall and Rossman (1995) and Strauss and Corbin (1990) it is important to highlight personal reasons for conducting qualitative research since personal motivation and interests are valuable sources of insight about the phenomenon analysed in the study. For this reason, this section discusses the personal motivation and interest of the author for conducting this study. In this section, the first person will be used since the statement was written by the author of the thesis. After relocating to Australia four years ago, I decided to officially move my residency to Australia and to become a member of the Italian transnational community. The registration at the AIRE (Anagrafe Italian Residenti all’ Estero), which is a semi- voluntary registry for Italian citizens living permanently outside Italy, would have allowed me to participate in the Italian election of the Italian parliament. However, my vote has to go to the representatives of the Italian transnational community, limiting the impact of my vote. Despite the need to register with the AIRE from a legal perspective, I have asked myself whether this decision could have had any repercussions on my citizenship rights. The first question I asked myself was whether, as a new emigrant, I could consider myself a member of the Italian transnational community here in Australia. Considering the history of Italian emigration to Australia, the transnational community is currently made of many different generations of Italian descendants. Each generation of Italians

4 has different perceptions of Italy and of Italian identity. Because of the heterogeneous composition of the Italian community abroad, made of different generations of Italians, I wondered why the Italian government decided to involve expatriates and their descendants in the political electoral system. The rationale used by the Italian institutions to implement the expatriate voting policy, allowing Italian emigrants and Italian descendants to cast their votes was not clear to me especially in regard to Italian descendants who have never experienced Italy and Italian society first-hand. Recognising that my doubts were shared by many other Italians who had recently emigrated to foreign countries, I decided to investigate the reasons that guided policy makers in implementing this policy. I realised that the only people able to answer my questions were politicians (MPs and Senators), members of Italian institutions, and experts of the field that contributed, at some levels, to the discussion and implementation of the policy. Despite the challenging task that I was about to embark on, discussing the content of the policy with policy makers was the only option I had to conduct research that could uncover the motivations that had guided the political inclusion of Italian citizens living abroad. However, in considering the time frame since the implementation of the expatriate voting policy in 2001, I initially had some concerns. The policy was implemented more than fifteen years ago and it seemed likely that the MPs and Senators that voted for the inclusion of the policy in the Italian electoral system at that time possibly might no longer be in parliament. For instance, Mirko Tremaglia, the promoter of the policy, died in 2011. At the same time, I realised, by looking at the official documentation available on the Italian Parliament database, there still was a discussion on the expatriate voting policy that had been going since 2007. These documents showed me that the topic was still a matter of discussion among policy makers. It appeared that the three elections held since the implementation of the policy, especially the first election in 2006, triggered a new discussion among policy makers that was worthy of consideration. I also believed that fifteen years was an acceptable time frame in the Italian political context to embark on a retrospective discussion of the policy. I hoped that, after fifteen years, MPs and Senators would have been willing to disclose information that was not known in the public arena at that time of the discussion and implementation of the policy. Policy makers’ contribution would have helped to understand the motivations for the implementation of the policy.

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Moreover, it was good time to discuss the content of the policy for two other reasons. Firstly, three elections have been held since 2001 (in 2006, 2008 and 2013) and the outcomes of these elections have given policy makers the opportunity to develop an opinion on the quality of the policy from a methodological and conceptual perspective. Secondly, since Italy has been experiencing a new emigration wave with the beginning of the GFC (Global Financial Crisis), the new emigration trend has forced policy makers to reopen the debate on the political inclusion of Italian expatriates in light of the current phenomenon.

1.3 The research context

Italian political engagement of non-resident citizens is the area of interest in this research. Among European countries, Italy is the nation that has implemented the most significant constitutional and legislative changes to guarantee the inclusion of Italian citizens that live permanently abroad in the politics of the country of origin.1 The most important aspect in the Italian policy framework for the engagement of emigrants was the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Italian Constitution. The inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Constitution can be considered a crucial affirmation made by the Italian government to highlight the importance Italian polity accords the Italian transnational community. Among European countries, the Italian example induced other nations to follow the same model, making Italy a “pioneer” in the European context for the inclusion of emigrants in the political life of the country of origin. After the implementation of the Italian expatriate voting policy and the creation of the specifically-made foreign electoral constituency, other European nations decided to follow the Italian model, reviewing existing policies on expatriates’ political engagement or implementing new policies for their inclusion. The list of European countries that implemented the representation of emigrant communities in their respective parliament includes Croatia, France, and Portugal (Hutchenson & Arrighi 2015). The representation for non-resident citizens in homeland parliaments was also allowed in African countries

1 See Legge 6 novembre 1989, n. 368 “Istituzione del Consiglio generale degli italiani all'estero”; Legge 8 maggio 1985, n. 205 “Istituzione dei Comitati degli Italiani all’ Estero”; Legge 5 febbraio 1992, n.91 “Cittadinanza Italiana”; L.Cost. 17 gennaio 2000, n. 1[1], di modifica dell’art. 48 Cost., e la L.Cost. 23 gennaio 2001, n. 1[2], di modifica degli articoli 56 e 57 Cost.; legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459 "Norme per l' esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all' estero "

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(Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique) and in Latin America countries (Colombia, Ecuador and Panama) (IDEA &IFE 2007). Since the implementation of the expatriate voting policy, Italy held three elections in 2006, 2008 and 2013 and many referenda. Turnout in the foreign constituency during elections and referenda has become a matter of concern among policy makers and some policy makers have started to put in doubt the legitimacy of the policy also in light of declining participation. Moreover, the interest towards the Italian experience from Italian policy makers and academics has also been provoked by the electoral outcomes of the 2006 elections. In 2006, votes cast by Italians living abroad determined to some extent the political future of the country. This episode reopened the debate on the political inclusion of expatriates, questioning the legitimacy of the system from a both theoretical and empirical perspective within Italian institutions. This episode became an object of discussion among Italian politicians, national experts and, at the same time, world-wide scholars that were conducting studies on political transnationalism, becoming an episode of great interest among transnationalism and electoral participation experts. Italy represents an interesting study in relation to transnationalism practices. The long history of emigration waves that affected the country resulted in the creation of large transnational communities also thanks to the implementation of the dual citizenship policy in 1992. Since 1992 Italian citizens can transmit the Italian citizenship to their descendants with no limit in terms of chain generations. This policy has facilitated the enlargement of the Italian transnational community and consequently, it has increased the electorate abroad. Due to the inclusiveness of the transnational community in Italy, this project investigates the Italian experience in the engagement of non-resident citizens in the political system from a national perspective.

1.4 The purpose of the study

1.4.1 Aim of the study and research questions

The aim of this research is to investigate the evolution of the expatriate voting policy in Italy. The study has two specific research questions. The first question is: What were the original motivations for the implementation of the Italian

7 expatriate voting policy? To answer this question, the study explores the political debate before the implementation of the policy, when the expatriate voting policy became part of the political agenda of key Italian political parties. A main issue is the analysis of the interest that policy makers had in the inclusion of Italian non-resident citizens in the political system of the country. The research investigates the evolution of the political debate on Italian political transnationalism between 1980s and 2001. The analysis of the motivations that supported the implementation of the expatriate voting policy are relevant in relation to the current debate on the legitimacy of the expatriate voting system. The second question is: How have policy makers changed their perception towards the expatriate voting policy and citizenship policy since 2001? In order to answer this question, the study investigates the area of discussion in the current debate on the expatriate voting policy. Since the 2006 elections, proposals have been submitted by MPs and Senators to review the current policy. For this reason, the study investigates which are the new drivers that policy makers are considering to review the expatriate voting system. This research investigates whether policy makers are reconsidering the political role of the Italian transnational community. The new debate on the expatriate voting practice has been analysed in light of the existing theoretical debate on political transnationalism and of the empirical studies previously conducted on the political engagement of Italian expatriates. Moreover, in conjunction with expatriate voting, policy makers have also discussed the effects of the dual citizenship policy in the development of the transnational community. This policy is strictly related to the expatriate voting policy as part of the framework of transnational policies implemented by the country. The extension of citizenship rights, including voting rights, is the core of the discussion which highlights the important elements in the current debate on the connection between the home country and the Italian transnational community. This study investigates whether policy makers have reconsidered their approach, and in what way, for the exercise of citizenship rights for Italian citizens permanently abroad and that can be transmitted to Italian descendants. The discussion of the significance of citizenship rights to Italians non-resident citizens has been conducted in light of the composition of the Italian transnational community and the electoral outcomes.

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1.4.2 Significance of the study

This study provides an original perspective on the analysis of political transnationalism and expatriate voting practices. In particular, previous studies of the political engagement of citizens living permanently abroad have investigated the role of emigrant communities in the political life of countries of origin from a theoretical perspective (Basch et al. 1992; Portes 1999; Bauböck 2000; Østergaard-Nielsen 2003; Levitt & Schiller 2004; Vertovec 2004; Gamlen 2008) and an empirical perspective (Mascitelli & Battiston 2008; Lisi et al. 2015). In the literature, there are also comparative studies on political transnationalism which analyse different national practices (Lafleur 2011b). These studies, however, have avoided the discussion on domestic political drivers that can influence the involvement of emigrants in the political life of the country of origin, focusing most of the time on the comparison of different legislations. Citizens living abroad have been the subject of many studies. However, the role of the domestic politics in country of origin in the implementation of expatriate voting policies has been neglected. Nation states are the only unit in the current nation-state system that can implement policies on citizenship rights and on the political engagement of citizens living abroad. Policy makers are directly involved in the decision making process for the inclusion of emigrants in the political life of the sending country since they are those who can propose, vote and review policies. However, the motivations for the inclusion of expatriates in the political life country of origin has been inadequately analysed and discussed in the literature. This study investigates the historical and current political debate on the political inclusion of the transnational community. It is believed that policy makers are important players in the discussion of expatriate voting policies and for this reason, the focus of the study is on the political dynamics among Italian institutions and political parties. This study also contributes to the literature providing a new perception on the current discussion of political transnationalism. By looking at the Italian experience on the engagement of Italian expatriates, this study aims to highlight the importance of the analysis on domestic political drivers to comprehend the impact of expatriate voting and citizenship policies in the political life of sending countries.

1.5 Terminology

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For a better comprehension of this study, it is important to discuss some of the key terms used in the research. This section provides the definition and explanation of recurrent terms to guide the reader through the study as well as to describe the terminological choices made by the author. In the literature of migration studies, sending countries and receiving countries are the most common terms to explain migration trajectories. Sending countries are the countries of origin of emigrants. The term sending countries is often used interchangeable in the research with country of origin. The term receiving countries is used to describe countries of destination of emigrants. In the context of this research, Italy is the sending country and Australia, European countries and South American countries are the receiving countries where most Italians emigrated. This study discusses the composition of the Italian transnational community and, for this reason, it is important to clarify some concepts. For instance, the term first generation Italians refers to those Italians who were born in Italy and relocated to foreign countries. Until recently, the main wave of Italians emigrated between the 1880s and 1950s. Since the beginning of a new emigration wave in Italy, Italian citizens who have been relocating to foreign countries over the past five toten years have been described as new first generation Italians. In the history of Italian migration this means that the Italian transnational community currently includes more than one first-generation of Italian emigrants. Within the Italian transnational community, it is also possible to identify second, third and fourth generation Italians. These Italians are Italian citizens who inherited the Italian citizenship in accordance with the Italian citizenship law of 1992. This policy allows Italian citizenship to be transmitted across generations. The definition of second, third and fourth generation Italians also considers Italians who acquire the Italian citizenship but may have never lived in Italy. Transnationalism and transnational community are also common terms used in the study. Transnationalism was introduced in the literature by Glick Schiller at al. (1993) to describe the phenomenon of the connection between emigrants and country of origin. The term political transnationalism, as used in the literature by many scholars (Itzigsohn 2000; Guarnizo at al. 2003; Smith & Bakker 2008), is used to refer to the political engagement of non-resident citizens in the political life of the country of origin through the participation in elections. The study looks specifically at the

10 policies that countries of origin have implemented to engage with the transnational community from a political perspective. In the study, the term transnational community has been used in the both singular and plural (transnational communities) though they are identical. Italians living abroad can be identified as one community if we consider the Italian institutional structure implemented for the electoral process with the inclusion of the foreign constituency. At the same time, the plural has also been used to acknowledge the fact that there is more than one community if we consider the presence of Italian citizens in many foreign countries. The largest Italian transnational communities can be identified in those countries where Italian citizens migrated between 1880s and 1950s. Policy makers is likely the most important term in this research that needs to be clarified. In this project, the term policy makers include the different groups of participants interviewed in the study. Policy makers are current and former Member of Parliaments (MPs), current and former political parties’ members from different political backgrounds, current and former members of Italian institutions such as the Constitutional Court, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and experts in the field of research such as academics and consultants. Policy makers were interviewed for this research since they are considered the most relevant players in the discussion and implementation of the expatriate voting policies before and after 2001. Expatriate voting is another important term in the research. In the literature there are many synonyms used to identify the practice of political inclusion of non-resident citizens living permanently or temporarily abroad (Bauböck 2006; Lafleur 2013; Collyer 2013). External voting, transnational voting and overseas voting are synonyms of expatriate voting also used in the literature. The term expatriate voting has been chosen in this research as the preferred definition to describe the political engagement of citizens living outside Italy. In relation to expatriate voting policies, a term often used in the literature is foreign constituency. The foreign constituency represents the method used by some countries that prefer to merge votes coming from abroad into a specific foreign constituency. Within the foreign constituency, non-resident citizens elect their own representatives to sit in the Italian parliament. Overseas constituency is also a synonym often used in the literature to describe this specific constituency (Vassallo, Thompson & Ania 2004; Newell 2006). In this study the term foreign constituency was preferred since it is the

11 most common term in the existing literature on expatriate voting practices. In the case of Italy, the foreign constituency includes four different geographical districts: Europe, North and Central America, South America and AAOA (Asia, Africa, Oceania and Antarctica). In the foreign constituency 18 MPs and 6 Senators are elected to represent the Italian transnational community in parliament. The final term that needs to be clarified is political dynamics. This research focuses its attention on the political dynamics amongst the political parties and parliamentary party members. The purpose of this research is to understand the reason for the implementation of the expatriate voting policy. The reasons can be found in the complex political relations between the political parties and their relationship to political power. Political dynamics include inter and/or intra party relationships and negotiation processes that must be developed in order to gain a majority in parliament. It is crucial to highlight that Italy is a multi-party system which requires political negotiations between parties to pass bills in the parliament. Political dynamics also include the role of specific individuals, such as MPs, Senators or members of Italian institutions, who were and are able to advocate in favour or against specific causes, in this case the political engagement of Italian non-resident citizens. This research also investigates whether Italian transnational communities were able to play a role and become important actors able to influence the dynamics amongst political parties and shape the domestic agenda.

1.6 Outline of the thesis

This section provides a brief description of the structure of the thesis and the content of the following chapters. Chapter 2 provides a review of the existing literature on the phenomenon of political transnationalism and on the expatriate voting practices. The literature review includes the previous studies conducted on political transnationalism from a theoretical and empirical perspective. This chapter also discusses the literature in the area of migration theories, dual citizenship and provides an overview of the literature on the Italian expatriate voting practice. The literature gap this study aims to fill is stated in this chapter. Chapter 3 discusses the research methodology used to conduct the study. This chapter highlights the reason to conduct a qualitative research, the rationale used to

12 choose the research method as well the sample technique used to identify the interviewees. This chapter also describes the document analysis conducted for the proposal submitted in parliament by MPs and Senators to review the current expatriate voting policy. Chapter 4 outlines the history of the expatriate voting policy from the inception of the idea of the political inclusion of emigrants to the implementation of the policy in 2001. The chapter provides a comprehensive picture of the historical and political evolution of the political engagement of Italian citizens from abroad. The description of the historical and political background is important to understand the evolution of the debate on the political inclusion of emigrants and to identify the most crucial historical turning points that allowed the implementation of the expatriate voting policy. Chapter 5 includes the analysis of secondary data on the participation from abroad and the electoral turnouts in the foreign constituency in elections and referenda held since 2006. The analysis of these figures is relevant in the discussion of the level of engagement of expatriates. For this reason, data has been analysed in detail to understand the electoral participation trends and preferences of non-resident Italians. Data has been collected from the database of the Ministry of the Interior. This chapter also analyses the content of the proposals submitted by policy makers since 2006, the year of the first election which included the expatriate voting system. Document analysis was conducted to identify the problems policy makers have identified in the current policy and the changes they wish to make. The aim of this chapter is to understand the impact of the elections in the decisions made by MPs and Senators to support the changes of the law. Secondary data analysis has helped to draft the questions used in the interviews conducted in the study. Chapter 6 presents data gathered through interviews conducted between June 2014 and March 2016 with policy makers. This chapter includes the findings of the research, including the opinion of policy makers on the topics of discussion. In light of the data collected through the interviews, this chapter discusses the historical reasons for the implementation of the expatriate voting policies and the drivers that fostered the debate and the final implementation at that time. Moreover, this chapter includes the current debate on the expatriate voting policy, the area of discussion among policy makers and the current perspective on the expatriate voting system.

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Chapter 7 also presents findings of the research and discusses data gathered in relation to citizenship rights. This chapter highlights the importance of citizenship rights and the connection between the Italian citizenship policy and the expatriate voting policy. This chapter discussed the approach adopted by Italy in the acquisition and transmission of citizenship rights in light of the past and current composition of the Italian transnational community. In this chapter, the future of the dual citizenship policy has been analysed in light of policy makers’ opinion and of the current debate on the Italian citizenship policy. Chapter 8 includes the theoretical discussion of Italian political transnationalism. This chapter provides the discussion of the findings in light of the existing literature. In this discussion chapter, findings of the research on the Italian experience are linked to the theoretical discussion on citizenship and voting rights, national and political identity. The aim of this chapter is to highlight the contribution to the literature of this study and the significance of this research in the debate on political transnationalism. Moreover, this chapter provides the answer to the research questions that have guided the project and discusses the area of improvement for further political transnationalism studies.

1.7 Conclusion

This chapter has provided an introduction to the study. This chapter has drawn attention to the significance of the study and to the reasons for undertaking this research. Moreover, this chapter has identified the aim of the research and the research questions that guided the research. Key terms have been discussed to clarify some of the important concepts used in the research. The outline of the thesis content has highlighted the structure of the research and has provided general information of the content of each chapter. The following chapter discusses the relevant literature in the area of migration theories, transnationalism, expatriate voting and dual citizenship.

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CHAPTER 2

Literature review

2.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to review the existing literature on the phenomenon of international migration, on the impact of people movement, on migration theories and on the transnationalism theories. Moreover, this chapter reviews the literature on the normative discussion on Italian citizenship policy and on the Italian expatriate voting system. The purpose of the chapter is to identify the gap in the literature that this research will seek to address. In this chapter, the evolution of the theoretical discussion on migration is analysed in order to understand the context in which transnationalism theories have developed. The theoretical debate on the manifestation of transnationalism theories through dual citizenship and expatriate voting policies has been included in this chapter. The first part of the chapter discusses the most relevant literature on migration theories and draws the attention to the evolution of migration theories in the scholarly literature over the years. In this section, transnationalism theories have been discussed in detail since this is the relevant theoretical framework in the research. In order to comprehend the relevance of transnationalism theories in the political context, this chapter also reviews the literature on the evolution of the role of nation states in the globalisation era. Scholars have discussed whether people movement has affected the role of nation states from a national and international perspective. This view has been discussed in relation to the implication of transnational practices on a national level. This chapter also discusses the literature related to the implementation of political transnationalism through expatriate voting policies and dual citizenship policies. Scholars have addressed the issue debating the implications of dual citizenship policies and the enlargement of the transnational communities that can access full citizenship rights. The implementation of these policies has been widely debated in the literature from a normative and empirical perspective. Since the scope of this study is to analyse the experience of Italy in the implementation of transnational policies, the literature review includes the scholarly

15 debate on the Italian expatriate voting policy and on the Italian dual citizenship policy from normative perspective.

2.2 Migration theories

2.2.1 International migration and classification of migrants

The phenomenon of international migration and the implications of this phenomenon have been discussed in the literature for decades. In recent times, international migration has become an even greater matter of interest and discussion in specific geographical areas of the world, such as the Mediterranean region and in the Pacific. People movement is a subject of investigation from a sociological, geographical, economic and political perspective. All these aspects have contributed to provide various interpretations of migration trends from a theoretical perspective. Since the 1980s, many contemporary theories on migration have been developed in light of the evolution of migration trends, causes and consequences. However, not one of the existing theories has been able to provide a comprehensive explanation of the phenomenon due to its complexity (King 2012: 24). The global relevance of the phenomenon of migration finds significant representation in the data provided by the UN Population Division. According to the United Nations, there were almost 244 million international migrants across the world in 2015 (UN Population Division Report 2015) and this number has been constantly increasing in of recent times due to national conflicts in specific areas of the world. Since the 1990s the major events that caused significant migration waves include armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia, the Arab Spring and the conflict in Syria. Due to these conflicts, asylum seekers have featured greatly in migration waves over the past decades. According to the OECD, in 2015 member countries of the OECD recorded the highest number of asylum seekers since World War 2 with 1.65 million people seeking asylum in foreign countries (OECD 2016). This number has doubled in 2016 compared to the 2015 data, demonstrating the importance of the phenomenon. According to the OECD report released in 2015, the migration flow into OECD countries reached its highest number with 4.8 million permanent entries in member states (in 2014 the permanent entries were 4.3 million) (OECD 2016). It is important to remember, however, that there is a wide margin of error in determining the effective

16 number of immigrants in different scenarios due to the size of irregular migration (UN Population Division Report 2015). Current and past patterns of international migration find theoretical explanations in the literature. Many scholars have analysed the factors that have triggered people movement to identify common patterns and potential implications. McNiell and Adams (1978) suggest that migration is a contingency that many experience in their lives. People move for different reasons, such as war and starvation, employment perspectives, travelling, carrying with them their personal background and expression of their culture of their own country (McNiell and Adams 1978). According to King (2012: 4) “migration is important because of the way it shapes and re-shapes societies, making them more diverse and complex”. Despite the significance of the phenomenon from an international perspective, it has always been difficult to provide a definition of who is a migrant. The UN report includes two criteria that must be considered to define a migrant: 1- citizenship and 2- birth place (or prior residency) (UN Population Division Report 2015). However, due to the complexity of migration and the dynamism of the phenomenon, these two criteria can be “contaminated” by other practices: naturalisation, which converts migrants to citizens, and the ius sanguinis principle, which allows migrants to transmit the citizenship of their home country to future generations (King 2013). From this perspective, future generations are usually considered migrants even though they were not part of a physical relocation (King 2013). This aspect is very important in the discussion of the current composition of Italian transnational community. Migrants have been classified in many sub-categories as indicated by some scholars (Cohen 1996, King 2012, Castles, De Haas & Miller 2013). Migration can be classified depending on the reasons that foster the relocation of migrants (Castles, De Haas & Miller 2013). Migration can also be discussed in terms of trajectories (internal or international), time (temporary or permanent), status (regular and irregular), and reasons (voluntary or forced) (Cohen 1996). In the history of Italian migration, Italians have experienced all these types of migration. For instance, Italian internal migration has always been characterised by a south- north trajectory. Italy has also experienced significant international and, often, forced migration before and after the two World Wars. While most of the Italian emigration

17 in those years became a permanent situation, between the 1960s and 1970s Italy also experienced a return migration wave with many Italian citizens returning to Italy. Italy is just one of the numerous countries that have experienced many forms of emigration waves. For this reason, in order to provide a general normative discussion of the phenomenon, previous migration studies have classified migrant populations into three main groups: temporary labour migrants, settler-migrants and refugees (King 2012). Due to the economic and political circumstances that triggered Italian emigration waves, the Italian migrant population on the whole can be identified as temporary labour migrants and settler-migrants.

2.2.2 Overview of migration theories

Studies on migration waves have provided different perspectives and interpretations of the phenomenon. The evolution of migration theories moved from a more localised and linear explanation of migration to a global and multilevel discussion of people movement. The earlier economic approach gave way in later years to a more social approach to migration. However, scholars have continued to debate migration theories, introducing even more contemporary approaches. Over the past two centuries, scholars have significantly contributed to further developing the literature on migration trends. The first studies on migration were conducted in the nineteenth century. In 1885 the British cartographer Ravenstein identified for the first time what he defined as the “laws of migration” (Ravenstein 1885). These laws tried to explain the waves and trajectories of British internal migration. Even though Ravenstein’s model can be considered antiquated (Samers 2010), this model is still considered the first successful attempt made to address migration trends. The push-pull framework, first discussed by Ravenstein (1885), divides reasons for migration into push factors (generated by countries of origin) and pull factors (generated by countries of destination). Examples of push factors are poverty and unemployment, while pull factors are the prospect of better education and job prospects. Italy experienced push-pull factors especially during the economic crises before and after the two World Wars. Italians were attracted to other European and overseas countries to find better employment opportunities and a safer future for their families.

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This push-pull model was revisited by Lee (1966); in later years he included new elements in the model called “personal factors”. According to the author, personal factors also influence the movement of people affecting pushing and pulling factors (Lee 1966). In addition, the author suggested that there are other elements called “intervening obstacles”. These obstacles must also be considered within migration trends. Some examples of “intervening obstacles” are the cost of relocation, language and cultural obstacles or immigration policies implemented by countries (Lee 1966). Lee’s model became the most popular approach used to explain people movements in the 1960s. This model followed the neoclassic economic paradigm “based on principles of utility maximisation, rational choices, factor-price differentials between regions and countries, and labour mobility” (King 2012: 13). The neoclassic economic model worked simultaneously on two different economic levels: macro and micro (Massey, Arango, Hugo, Kouaouci, Pellegrino & Taylor 1993). The macro level is based on the economic opportunities offered by host countries. As a result, people move to improve their economic situation from poorer to richer countries. This is also the case for past and current Italian emigration. The economic factor appears to be the most important motivation for relocation of Italians in the twentieth century and in recent times. On the other hand, micro level elements also affect migration waves. These macro level elements are the “rational factors”. The “rational factors”, firstly identified by Sjaastad (1962), are also divided into “favourable” and “unfavourable” factors that individuals consider to determine the benefit and cost of migration. This approach was widely criticised due to the adoption of a simplistic approach to migration without considering personal socio- cultural and international factors (Malmberg 1997, Arago 2004). The economic approach of the 1960s was overtaken by historical-structured models, embraced by scholars in the following two decades. From the 1970s, three main theories became the standard approaches which considered migration on a more international scale. These theories identify the causes of international migration from an economic perspective and consider migrants as the most important player in the migration decision making process. These theories considered individuals as active players in the migration process and not just people affected by external dynamics (Arango 2004).

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The first theory, elaborated by Piore (1979), focused on the idea of the “dual and segmented labour market”. The dual labour market was divided as follows: the primary market based on well-paid and secure jobs for native and the secondary markets based of insecure and low-paid salary for migrants (Piore 1979). Piore’s paradigm stated that migration was caused by pull factors rather than push factors and foreign countries were attracting migrants to specific destinations. In the Italian context, economic opportunities in foreign countries attracted many Italians that were struggling economically in their own country. The second theory was the “dependency theory” (Morawaska 2012). The theory considered migration an endless phenomenon and international migration as part of the diversification process between economically developed and developing countries (Morawaska 2012). The third and last theory elaborated by Wallerstein (1974) considers migration from a historical perspective, emphasising a strong connection between modern migration and the era of colonisation. According to Wallerstein (1974), colonies have always maintained a strong linkage with colonisers and these relations affected international migration. The author discussed the positioning of countries based on economic criteria. He divided countries into three main groups: core, periphery and semi-periphery countries. In light of this framework, countries that belonged to the periphery group were considered economically dependent on the core countries. As a consequence, migration was driven by the relationship between these groups. For many years, traditional migration theories considered economic factors the most important reason to explain migration waves and people movement. Since the late 1970s, however, new approaches were developed in the field of migration theory. These new approaches are the migration systems approach and networks approach. The systems approach rejected the idea of migration as a result of a unidirectional push-pull movement but considered migration based on numerous interdependent causes (King 2012). The systems approach has been used by scholars to analyse every level of migration: from a domestic scenario such as village migration system theories (Mabouguje 1970) to world-wide migration and global migration systems (Wallerstein 1979; Krits et al. 1992). The migration networks approach became a popular approach among experts in the field of migration studies. According to scholars, networks are the areas between

20 micro and macro migration and these networks are more relevant in the analysis of migration compared to any push-pull factor or personal motivation (Faist 1997). According to Massey et al. (1998) the creation of networks reduces risks within migration waves and networks and these networks facilitate people movement. Moreover, Fussell (2012) suggests that networks offer an explanation for different migration waves. The analysis of migration networks can help to forecast people movements and it can help to understand the causes and the factors sustaining migration over the years. Recent studies have included new elements in migration theories, opening a new area of study on the effects migration has in national societies. The new theoretical approaches on migration that have emerged in current times can be classified into two groups. The first group of scholars (Castles 2009, Faist 2010, Portes 2010) considers migration as a phenomenon of societal transformation. These scholars consider migration as a cause rather than as a consequence of social transformation. The second group of scholars describe migration following the influence of social science disciplines. Rather than looking at migration as a matter of statistics and numbers, these authors investigate migration from a qualitative perspective, considering the experience of migrants rather than the general reasons that have caused the movement (Blunt 2007, King 2012). These two groups, however, share the idea that international migration should be classified as a transnational phenomenon.

2.2.3 Transnational society and contemporary migration theories

The classification of migration has changed over the years in light of a more complex and accurate analysis of the phenomenon also due to the change of patterns of migration. The advancement of new theories supported by Castles, De Haas and Miller (2013) has provided a redefinition of the key aspects and features that characterise international migration. This new approach has re-written aspects of migration, providing a globalised perspective in the existing literature. According to Castles, De Haas & Miller (2013), in the last twenty years, migration has increased due to economic and political factors. The authors have studied the connections between economics and global migration and the consequences of migration waves for national social transformation. According to the authors, social transformation has affected societies around the world and has caused change to the traditional concept

21 of national society within the nation-state framework. Migration waves have created what has been defined as transnational societies. Transnational societies have radically influenced the traditional concept of national society, challenging the Westphalia model of the nation-state (Castles & Miller 2009: 12). While in previous studies migration has been investigated from a local or regional perspective, the more recent literature investigates migration from a global and international point of view (King & Skeldon 2010, Martiniello & Rath 2013). Theoretical approaches developed in recent times have scrutinised recent migration trends in light of different approaches. These approaches are: the mobility turn approach (Urry 2007), transnationalism approach (Glick Schiller et al. 1992) and diaspora studies (Cohen 2008). The transnationalism approach has been considered the most relevant approach for this study since expatriate voting practices have been already discussed within the transnationalism framework in the existing literature. Indeed, expatriate voting practices represent the manifestation of the theoretically discussed transnationalism phenomenon which emphasises the ability of national policies to have an impact outside national borders.

2.3 Transnationalism theory

Within the stream of social transformation (Castles 2009, Faist 2010, Portes 2010), transnationalism has become a popular theory used to analyse migration and the consequences of this phenomenon. Transnationalism is the phenomenon by which populations migrate from their homeland to another country to settle and start a new life, but, at the same time, retain connections with their country of origin (Glick Schiller 1999). According to Portes (1999) transnationalism requires significant effort from migrants that wish to be involved in economic, political and social activities in their homeland. At the same time, transnational activities require frequent cross border activities conducted by nation states to engage migrants (Portes 1999). Transnational activities, however, can affect nation states’ sovereignty since cross-border activities of nations can reduce the control of receiving countries over the population living within national borders (Vertovec 1999). The introduction of “transnational nation-state” activities has forced scholars to reconsider the traditional idea of nation-state as elaborated in the Westphalian model

22 in light of the increasing implementation of policies that followed transnationalism principles (Castles, De Haas & Miller 2013). Historically, the most common method to maintain connection between homelands and the expatriate community was through “economic solidarity”. While maintaining economic connection with emigrants has been the most common approach implemented by nation states, in recent times, countries have implemented policies that pursue the reconnection with emigrants also from a socio-political perspective. According to Faist (2000), in contemporary times, the reinforcement of the concept of nationhood and ethnicity have become important elements that have fostered the creation of policies to maintain a connection with emigrants living in receiving countries (Faist 2000). In contemporary transnational theories, transmigrants are identified as people who maintain political and social connections to their homeland, rather than only economic connections. The connection with the transnational communities has the intent to increase ideas of membership amongst citizens and their descendants who live outside the homeland borders (Vertovec 2004, Bash et al. 1992). In the political sphere, scholars have identified empirical manifestations of transnationalism with the creation of a dual state membership or multiple political cultures identities (Smith & Guarnizo 1998, Faist 2000). Practically speaking, transnationalism has resulted in the implementation of dual citizenship policies, which allows migrants’ descendants to have more than one citizenship, and through the political engagement of emigrants in the electoral life of the country of origin. These types of policies allow emigrants and their descendants to influence the domestic politics of their sending country from outside the national borders, challenging the traditional idea of nation-states’ sovereignty over its population (Levitt 2003). The impact of dual citizenship policies and the transmission of citizenship rights among generations has triggered a discussion on the reconsideration of the traditional concept of identities-borders-orders and also fostered a debate regarding citizens’ loyalty, identity and belonging. (Smith & Guarnizo 1998, Vertovec 2004). The representation and consequences of transnationalism in national activities have been summarised by Glick Schiller and Fouron (2001): “[citizens] may vote, demonstrate, contribute with money, create works of art, give birth, and fight, kill, and die all for a “homeland” in which they may never have lived” (Glick Schiller & Fouron 2001: 20). The authors argue that transnationalism has been reshaping the concept of citizenship,

23 creating a new category of citizens that Bauböck (1999) has defined non-resident citizens. While the acceptance of transnationalism theories was at its peak between 1990s and early 2000, transnationalism theories are not widely accepted by all scholars. As King (2012) argues, theories on transnationalism are in conflict with integration and assimilation theories. Integration and assimilation policies are usually implemented in new host countries and they are considered a priority for countries with a large presence of migrants. According to Portes (2003), however, transnationalism only affects a small part of the international migrant communities. Transnationalism is very demanding and involves many actors in the migration process. Transnationalism can only flourish with the effort that sending countries, hosting countries and the population, have to make in order to keep ties and maintain an active role in both communities. For this reason, integration, assimilation and transnationalism practices can co-exist within national socio-political frameworks.

2.3.1 Classification of transnational states

Within the transnationalism framework, it is possible to identify three different types of migrant-sending states (Levitt & Glick Schiller 2004). The first one is called transnational nation-states in which government offices, such as embassies and diplomatic institutions are responsible for the expatriate “protection and representation” (Levitt & Glick Schiller 2004: 1023). Transnational nation-states stretch their political influence outside national borders, allowing electoral participation of citizens living abroad and in some cases, implementing specially- made representation of the transnational community in the parliament of countries of origin. Moreover, these countries recognise dual citizenship for their migrants overseas. As a result of the policies implemented over the last decades, Italy can certainly be described as a transnational nation-state. The second category includes the strategically selective states (Levitt & Glick Schiller 2004: 1023). These countries maintain political and economic relations with their emigrants in order to allow expatriates to participate in the political and economic life of their homeland. The country of origin maintains a certain level of control on communities residing overseas. However, these countries do not consider the potential return of their migrants. For this reason, the aim for these types of countries is to ensure

24 that the interests of migrant communities will not go against the interests of their homeland. To do so, these countries may offer tax privileges but will not recognise dual citizenship for migrants. In the international scenario, there is also a third group of countries defined as disinterested and denouncing states. This group of countries do not consider migrants as part of their homeland community (Levitt & Glick Schiller 2004).

2.3.2 Globalisation and the redefinition of nation states

Transnationalism theories have served the purpose of explaining the increasing implementation of transnational policies implemented by countries and the evolution of the influence of nation-states outside national borders. International migration is one of the key factors that has fostered the globalisation of national economies and domestic politics. According to Koslowski (2006), the globalisation of domestic politics is driven by three factors: increasing migration, transportation and communication revolution and increasing democratic practices. The globalisation of domestic politics opened new frontiers for international politics, raising questions about the traditional political and democratic theories of bounded demos (Koslowski 2006). Indeed, people movement created a “borderless world” and globalisation of domestic politics has challenged the traditional definition of nation-state (Steger 2010). The evolution of the role of the nation state in the globalisation era has been discussed within globalisation theories. According to Hay (2002) the debate on globalisation theories considers two opposite theories to describe the role of nation- states: the state-centric and the non-state centric theories. Globalisation theories focus on state-centric theories or realist theories (Waltz 1979), arguing that sovereignty of the nation-states has been compromised by cross-border flows of people (Hay 2002). However, while recognising the importance of globalisation as an economic phenomenon, some scholars, such as Buzan, Wæver and De Wilde (1998), still defend the political role of the nation-state in the international system. The debate about globalisation has been summarised by Held (1999) as “the cliché of our time” in light of the recent discussion and re-definition of cross-border flows. Hay (2002) shared the same ideas, suggesting that flows of people have always existed in history but they have never been a semantical label.

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Empirical evidence on the impact of globalisation is best explained by the nation- state behaviours in their redefinition of power in the global era. According to Steger (2003), the effect of globalisation is tangible within nation-state borders. According to this author, in current times, nation states have lost their dominant role in their nation social life (Stager 2003). According to Louie (2000), state boundaries should be re- defined by social terms and the phenomenon of globalisation is helping to move in this direction. Globalisation has redefined the concept of boundaries and has softened the domestic and foreign spheres of nations (Cerny 1997). Migration has contributed to the redefinition of national borders and national belonging. In order to reach their emigrants, sending countries have experienced a process of de-territorialisation though their policies’ actions outside national borders (Østergaard-Nielsen 2003). The de-territorialisation phenomenon started by the nation state through transnational policies have raised questions about the traditional concept of nation-state and the political role of citizens living in foreign countries. The major question raised by scholars is whether democracy can outgrow its nation-state borders and be practised on a transnational level (Koslowski 2006). Recent evidence suggests that the jurisdiction of a nation-state can overlap with other nations’ jurisdiction in a series of ways. Migration management policies, dual citizenship policies, expatriate voting policies are some empirical examples of countries’ de-territorialisation of this phenomenon. The implementation of transnational policies by sending countries have fostered a process of interconnection of countries though the creation of transnational identities, despite the effort countries have put into retaining nationals’ political and social identity through domestic policies (Hay 2002). The implementation of assimilation policies for migrants, for instance, are perceived by sending countries as a loss and, for this reason, some nations have pursued policies that allow the maintenance of the homeland citizenship for their migrants and their descendants (Hammer 1990). Despite the effect of globalisation and the softening process of national borders, nation-states plays a fundamental role in the migration scenario. Nation-states are the only institutions that can guarantee citizenship rights and political participation rights for their citizens and, in some cases, their descendants (Østergaard-Nielsen 2003). For this reason, the crucial role of nation states in the literature on transnationalism needs further reinforcement.

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2.4 Political transnationalism

The literature on the legitimacy of the political inclusion of “non-resident citizens” in elections of countries of origin has been debated in the literature for 15 years (Bauböck 2000, Lopez-Guerra 2005, Lafleur 2008, Owen 2010). The debate has been fostered by the increasing implementation of expatriate voting policies among states with large transnational communities. According to Bauböck (2007) involving expatriates in political decision making of their homeland is one of the possible ways identified by countries that decide to include minorities that live far from the countries of origin. This practice has been also defined as a strategy for the diaspora integration implemented by countries that have been affected by migration waves (Gamlen 2008). There are different reasons for the extension of the enfranchisement to citizens living outside national borders. The political engagement of migrants has frequently been supported and justified for first generation of migrants who relocate to a foreign country (Fitzgerald, 2006a; Rubio Marin 2006; Spiro 2006). However, there are numerous motivations that foster the inclusion of emigrants in the political life of the country of origin. A first motivation is the economic contribution migrants make to the country of origin, sending remittances to support their families at home (Beckman 2006). Secondly, citizens living abroad can be included in the electoral process if they have experienced forced migration and they had to relocate often against their will (Castles 2003). This can be a circumstance in which countries of origin decide to reconnect with their citizens living abroad. Thirdly citizens, especially first generation emigrants, usually maintain a strong connection with their homeland due to their language, culture and family connections (Kofman 2005). This interest can also include political interest in the events in the country of origin. Engaging emigrants from an economic perspective is one of the main reasons why emigrants are also included in the electoral system of the country of origin (Lopez Guerra 2005). Citizens living abroad are often affected by taxation from the country of origin. Even though they do not reside in their home country anymore, they still have economic connections and, for this reason, the national government consider them entitled to cast their vote during national elections (Lopez Guerra 2005). However, Rubio Marin (2006) states that allowing expatriates to participate in the political life of their home countries should not be decided based on economic reasons.

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According to the author, citizens living abroad should demonstrate some degree of interest towards the political affairs of the sending country in order to participate responsibly (Rubio Marin 2006). The implementation of expatriate policies has raised the question whether migrants should be entitled to interfere in electoral outcomes and governance of nation-states in which they do not reside (Barry 2006, Østergaard-Nielsen 2003). In some cases, migrants are invited to participate in the political life of their homeland supporting political parties’ campaigns abroad (Barry 2006). Despite some level of political engagement from abroad, it has been argued that migrants should not be included in the political election system of their country of origin because they will never be affected by the decisions made by the government since they do not live in that country anymore and reside somewhere else (Weale 1999, Rubio Marin 2006). Moreover, according to Beckman (2006: 161-162): “recognising the political rights of citizens living abroad constitutes an injustice on behalf of those currently at home”. According to Collyer and Vathi (2007) five different methods for the inclusion of emigrants in the domestic electoral system have been identified amongst sending countries: from the absence of any form of inclusion to the direct representation of migrants in parliament of their country of origin. Despite the criticism towards the political inclusion of non-resident citizens, these policies have found significant support among national political parties. According to Bauböck (2009), political parties are the first stakeholders in maintaining a connection between migrants and their homeland. Homeland political parties have established external offices in the hosting countries, associations based on their area of origin (e.g. regional clubs) and have developed strong networks among migrants. The aim of these networks is to lobby their home government and influence them in the decision making process about matters that can affect transnational communities such as citizenship and the expatriate vote (Portes 1999, Vertovec 2004, Levitt & Glick Schiller 2004).

2.5 Citizenship and dual citizenship Within the transnational framework, citizenship and the concept of belonging, have assumed a different nuance. The traditional dichotomy of citizenship and nation state has been challenged by transnational theories proving that citizenship is not necessarily territorially bounded. In the specific context of the transnational

28 communities, granting citizenship rights has become a matter of discussion amongst scholars. One of the first and most significant theoretical approaches developed on citizenship rights in the modern nation-state context comes from Marshall (1950). According to this author, citizenship is composed of three components: civil, political and social. The political element comprehends “political power” which can be expressed in two ways: from electors (active electorate) and from the elected people (passive electorate) (Marshall 1950). These two ways represent the possibility for citizens to cast their vote in the elections and to be elected to represent the community as a local or national candidate. Since the inception of transnational practices in the second half of the twentieth century, a reconsideration of the idea of belonging and citizenship started to be discussed among scholars to reshape the concept of identity in light of the phenomenon of dual citizenship practices (Vertovec 2004). Many doubts have been raised regarding dual citizenship (also called transborder citizenship) questioning the effects of these policies on citizens’ sense of loyalty and identity (Vertovec 2004). The implementation of dual citizenship policies has provided a new element of discussion in the already existing transnationalism debate.

2.5.1 Citizenship and political identity While the recognition of dual citizenship has become an accepted practice among many nation states, dual citizenship has been criticised as ambiguous. According to Jones-Correa (2001:1009): “There are no logical reasons why countries should allow dual nationality”. While the author discussed dual citizenship policy in light of national interests, nation states have proven that it is of interest to some nations to support this practice. Dual citizenship is the manifestation of transnationalism and the authors recognise the value of transnational practices. According to Jones-Correa (2001), there are many reasons why countries are encouraging the linkage to expatriates, keeping the doors opens for a possible return to the country of origin, creating an economic connection with the hosting countries or using migrants as immigrant lobbies. As a result of transnationalism, dual citizenship policies provide the possibility for citizens to be recognised with two identities with no time limit (Levitt & de la Dehesa

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2003). Even though citizens do not have any limit in maintaining more than one citizenship, if they belong to nations that allow dual citizenship practices, Foner (1997), argues that transnationalism effects cannot last forever. According to this author and in contrast to the current transnational trend of nation states’ policies, the traditional idea of identity will be retained with people identifying with only one national identity (Foner 1997). According to Bloemraad (2004) dual citizenship should also be considered to be permitted as a temporary phase. People will eventually prefer one citizenship over another (Bloemraad 2004). Moreover, dual citizenship has been recognised as an obstacle in the naturalisation process. According to Koslowski (2006) dual citizenship can create a multiple political identity or an apolitical identity in which a citizen feels part of neither the sending nor the hosting community. However, scholars that consider transnationalism an ongoing trend, look at dual citizenship in light of the evolution of emigrants’ political identity and the inevitable consequences of this phenomenon can bring a redefinition of the traditional concept of national belonging. According to Glick Schiller and Fouron (2001), dual citizenship creates “transborder citizens”. From a political perspective, transborder citizens live their political life in more than one country. The political engagement of emigrants in more than one country can potentially affect the political life in countries of origin, changing the political dynamics within states (Glick Schiller & Fouron 2001; Mascitelli and Battiston 2008).

2.5.2 Citizenship and political rights

The transmission of citizenship among descendants allows the acquisition of citizenship rights. Citizenship rights have always been considered as part of a full set of rights that are interconnected to each other. Marshall (1950) theorised the meaning of citizenship and the value of citizenship rights within nation states. Some scholars have argued, however, that citizenship rights and political rights are not part of an indissoluble bond and for this reason, they should be considered as separate entities (Beckman 2006). As Beckman (2006) argues, based on the democratic principle of inclusion, the link between citizenship and voting rights has been historically developed in order to highlight the importance of the: “inclusive understanding of demos – people exercising self-government” (Beckman 2006: 154-155). In accordance with this principle, the political power in a country is held by members of the country

30 and this membership corresponds to citizenship. The democratic principle of inclusion considers individuals to be members of a community. As a member of the community within specific borders, people are affected by the law of the country in which they belong. Following this idea, only people affected by the law have the right to cast their vote (Dahl 1989). In the case of citizens living abroad, citizens are not, or are only partially, affected by the law of the country for which they are entitled to vote. This issue has been the most important matter in the literature about the legitimacy of full voting rights for expatriate citizens. It should also be remembered that, historically, voting rights have also been linked to the principle of contributism in many nation states. The principle of contributism was implemented at the time of the American Revolution, that followed the principle of “No taxation without representation” (Beckman 2006). In accordance with this statement, the economic contribution provided by citizens represents the most important element to justify the political inclusion of citizens. The economic link between sending countries and emigrant communities has been the most important criterion followed to support the implementation of policies that grant voting rights to non-resident citizens (Lopez-Guerra 2005). Another approach regarding voting rights considers the connection between citizenship and political rights as a causal relation. Since law and policies affect citizens’ lives, citizens have the right to express their political opinion in order to affect policies and laws (Shapiro 2003). The last approach that should be considered in the discussion on political rights to expatriates is the legal approach. According to this approach “political rights should be granted to anyone subject to the authority of the government” and authority of a government is limited by the border of the nation (Beckman 2006: 161). This last approach challenges the transnational electoral practices implemented by some nation states, showing, once again, a redefinition of the idea of citizenship and citizenship rights.

2.6 Expatriate voting policies around the world

The electoral participation of non-resident citizens has been discussed from a theoretical and normative perspective in the literature. However, over the past years, scholars have also focused on the study of empirical examples of the implementation of the expatriate voting systems around the world, highlighting strengths and

31 weaknesses of different systems. The common reasons which push countries to implement expatriate voting practices are identified as follows: emigration waves which have affected many countries over the years, thus creating a large transnational community, and the role that these communities and emigrants play in and for the country of origin (Collyer 2013). While there are a significant number of countries that have implemented expatriate voting polices, the literature focuses more strongly on some countries. Mexico, for instance, represents one of the most relevant case studies of political inclusion of non-resident citizens. Mexico implemented the expatriate voting policy due to the significant number of emigrants in neighbouring countries, such as the USA. According to Lafleur (2011a), the country wanted to acknowledge the important role emigrants play in the country of origin due to their economic support. Most Mexican emigrants still send remittances to their families to provide economic support. This appears the most relevant reason that enabled emigrants to lobby the Mexican government for their inclusion in the electoral system in their country of origin (Lafleur 2011a). For similar reasons, other countries in the region implemented expatriate voting policies including Bolivia (Lafleur & Sánchez-Domínguez 2015) and the Dominican Republic (Itzigsohn & Villacrés 2008). While Mexico represents one the most researched examples in the literature of the expatriate voting and emigrants’ enfranchisement for economic purposes, other studies focus on European countries due to their long history of emigration waves. Lafleur (2011s) conducted a comparative study of Belgium, Italy and Mexico exploring the similarities and differences of these practices. More recently, Hutcheson and Arrighi (2015) have expanded the comparative studies of expatriate voting policies among EU countries to demonstrate the variation of the legislation amongst EU member states. In addition to comparative studies, it is also possible to find in-depth studies of specific countries such as Portugal. The country became on object of interest due to the high level of engagement of emigrants abroad and their representation in parliament as well as the long history of emigration (Costa Lobo 2007). The opposite case is discussed by Honohan (2011) in relation to Irish emigration. According to the author, Irish expatriates should not be entitled to vote in elections in their country of

32 origin, limiting the political participation only to first generation emigrants despite the large presence of Irish descendants around the world (Honohan 2011). The view offered by Honohan (2011) strongly diverges from the general approach adopted by many European countries including emigrants and their descendants in the country of origin. For instance, studies conducted on European examples have dominated the debate thanks to the high level of engagement of citizens living abroad. Some countries, such as Portugal have included a specifically-made representation to ensure representation of the transnational communities in the parliament of the country of origin. The list of European countries with special representation for transnational communities also includes France, Italy, Spain, Romania and Croatia, although Italy has certainly the most inclusive policy.

2.7 Italian expatriate voting in the literature

The implementation of the expatriate voting policy was enshrined in the 2001 legislation. The implementation of the policy represents the last step in the long process of inclusion of Italian emigrants in national political affairs and thus has become of interest to many Italian and international scholars. According to Bettinelli (1995) the the engagement of the Italian expatriate communities represented the response to an unresolved sense of guilt and recognition of neglect towards Italian emigrants, developed by Italian institutions over the years. This sense of guilt has been the result of governmental lack of interest in the mass emigration of Italians, during and after the two World Wars. For many countries emigrations waves were considered a safety valve which helped to address social and economic pressure in the home country, including Italy (Østergaard-Nielsen 2003, Koslowski 2006). Other scholars do not necessarily share Bettinelli’s point of view on the reasons that fostered the implementation of the expatriate voting policy in Italy. Mascitelli and Battiston (2008) speculate that the Italian expatriate voting policy was implemented as a consequence of opportunistic perceived interests by political parties. Despite the fact that there are no studies that investigate the reasons why Italian policy makers decided to implement the expatriate voting policy in the first place, some studies highlight the transformation of Italian institutions’ perception of Italian citizens and their descendants living outside the country. According to Cannistraro and Rosoli (1979) the changing perception towards Italian emigrants is crucial in order

33 to understand the evolution of the policies implemented to reconnect with citizens living abroad. The perception of Italians living outside the country’s borders within Italy evolved from the idea of the ‘emigrant’ to the idea of ‘Italian citizens’ living temporary abroad (Cannistraro & Rosoli 1979). However, the change of perception was a very lengthy and complex process. This new perception of the Italian transnational community has encouraged the implementation of policies to support the political inclusion of emigrants into the Italian political community. According to Napolitano and Di Stefano (1969), in 1919 an attempt was made by Cabrini, leader of the Socialist Party, during the Colonial Congress (and by MP Sifola in the same year) to implement a policy for the representation of Italian migrants in parliament. At that time politicians did not consider Italian emigrants as a national asset. A change of heart was first supported by Mussolini in the 1920s and 1930s. Mussolini’s interest in reconnecting with emigrant communities significantly affected the image and the role of emigrants in the national psyche, creating an implicit connection between Italians living abroad and their political affiliation with right wing political parties (De Donno 2006). Mussolini did not consider, emigrants a ‘dead weight’ but a potential resource for political affiliation and support. In the Chamber of Deputies Mussolini raised the possibility to naturalise Italian emigrants to enable them to vote in Italian elections (Cannistraro & Rosoli 1979). At the same time, Mussolini recognised the importance of Italian emigrants’ ability to spread Fascist ideas and principles to influence countries in which they resided (Lafleur 2013). Mussolini was the first leader in Italy who recognised the potential role of emigrants in a political campaign and, eventually, as participants in the electoral system. The involvement of migrants in homeland political activities would have eventually increased the number of possible political actors (Koslowski 2006). In 1948, when the Constituent Assembly was formed to prepare a new Italian Constitution, the issue of voting rights needed to be addressed by the Assembly. The Assembly did not consider implementing any regulations specifically for the electoral participation of the expatriate communities (Elia 2000). In the final text, it stated that every Italian of age has the right to vote and their vote is considered personal and equal among Italian citizens.2 At that time, the Assembly agreed that the only way Italians

2 Titolo IV, Rapporti Politici Art. 48. (1). The second part of the article which include the participation of Italian citizens living abroad was included with the constitutional changes in 2000.

34 abroad could vote during the elections was by returning to Italy to cast their vote in the last district of residency. The turning point for this issue arrived in the 1990s when the idea of the Circoscrizione Estero (Foreign Constituency) became a feasible proposition within Italian political circles (Choate 2007), supporting the implementation of a new constituency to offer Italian citizens living abroad the possibility of representation in the Italian Parliament (Elia 2000). According to Grosso (2002) in the last years of the debate, political parties did not raise any criticism because they were not interested in the content for utilitarian reasons. It seems the topic was not a matter of public interest and thus it was not a priority for political parties. Apart from the description of the legislative procedure, it is very rare to find comments regarding the content of the expatriate voting policy in the literature. Sartori (2004) was one of the few scholars at that time who provided a very sharp and unflattering description of the content of the proposal. Sartori analysed the Italian proposal of the foreign constituency defining it as a “foolish and senseless” project (Sartori 2004). Very few scholars addressed the problem of the legitimacy of the policy until its implementation. The real debate among experts started after the implementation of the law and, more importantly, after the first election with the involvement of the Italian expatriate community in 2006. The debate covered not only the legitimacy of the expatriate voting policy but also the regulation of Italian citizenship and its transmission to future generations.

2.7.1 The Expatriate voting policy (law 459/2001)

Since the implementation of the expatriate voting policy, the content of the law has been increasingly debated among Italian constitutional experts (Grosso 2002, Tarli Barbiri 2007, Vigevani 2004, Sica 2008). Even though the policy was implemented in 2001, the first test for the policy in the election was held in the 2006 elections, when policy makers identified problems with its implementation. There were some concerns raised even before the first election with the participation of Italians living abroad in regard to the creation of the foreign constituency. One of the most debated elements in the literature on the Italian expatriate voting policy was the inclusion of the foreign constituency and the representation of the Italian transnational community. According to Baldassarri, Frosini and Morbidelli, three of the five members of the Commission created to draft

35 the proposal for the expatriate voting law in the late 1990s, the creation of the foreign constituency had the intent to guarantee a fair representation of the Italian transnational community through representatives residing overseas (Sica 2008). As a consequence, the specially-made constituency created for Italian citizens living abroad excluded any Italians living in Italy from any active and passive electoral engagement in this constituency. This decision was made to avoid the “colonisation” of political parties’ representatives in the external territories to gain a seat in parliament (Frosini 2004). However, according to Vigevani (2002), the representation of Italians living abroad elected within the foreign constituency is considered the most ambiguous aspect of the law. The fact that only a certain group of Italian citizens can be elected to represent the community is considered an issue that can affect the equal and democratic representation as indicated in the Italian constitution (Grosso 2002, Vigevani 2002). Other criticisms have been in relation to the impact of votes on the electoral results. Votes coming from overseas were never conceived to be influential in the count to determine the majority in parliament and votes collected in the foreign constituency were considered separately with no direct implication on the electoral outcomes (Grosso 2002, Vigevani 2002). Furthermore, the voting system in the foreign constituency is different compared to the voting system used in the Italian electoral law for domestic districts (Tarli Barbieri 2007). While in Italy the electoral law followed the first-past-the-post system, in the foreign constituency the system is based on the proportional representation system.3 Some concerns about the representation methods were brought to the attention of the Parliament from the MP Boato who stated that expatriate voting policy goes against the electoral rights of equality promoted by the Italian Constitution (Sica 2008). Sica also argues that the policy created discrimination within the electorate. Vigevani (2002) criticised the policy, supporting the idea that electors should be able to evaluate and vote for their representatives without any pre-determined restrictions given by the policy about the residency of the representatives. Grosso (2002) also considered the structure of the law and the definition of the passive electorate within the foreign constituency a

3 Since the implementation of the foreign constituency the Italian electoral law has been changed twice. In 2005 legge n. 270 del 21 dicembre 2005, ‘Legge Calderoli’ known as “porcellum” and in 2015, legge 6 maggio 2015, n. 52. The elections held in 2006, 2008 and 2013 were held following the law 270/2005 within domestic electoral system. The electoral system for the foreign constituency has never changed since its implementation in 2001.

36 complex matter that needed further investigation. The foreign constituency, together with the limitations for candidates based on the residency principle, are the two key elements that makes this law unique within the Italian context and around the world (Tarli Barbieri 2007). The second issue identified by the literature is the implementation of the foreign constituency and division of the world in four macro areas (Europe, North and Central America, South America and the AAAO (Africa, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica) district). The number of representatives in each division has been identified in light of on the number of Italian citizens residing in each geographical area. According to Grosso (2002), some of these geographical districts have an enormous territory to cover and for this reason, the representation of Italians living abroad can be both inefficient and unfair. The example of the AAOA district is crucial to explain Grosso’s statement and concerns. As electoral results confirmed, due to the large presence of Italians in Australia, the representatives for the AAOA district will most likely come from Australia, leaving Italians residing in Africa and Asia with no representatives coming from these parts of the world (Mascitelli & Battiston 2008). The third issue highlighted by the Italian constitutional lawyers and other academic experts is the system of voting by correspondence. The fact that voters cast their vote by correspondence rather than at ballot stations is considered by the literature a risk at many levels. Firstly, following this system, the personalisation and secrecy of the vote is not guaranteed for electors (Lanchester 1988, Vigevani 2002, Coassin 2006). The voting by correspondence does not provide any certainty about the identity of the voter. The fact that the secrecy and personality of the vote are criteria that are not guaranteed by the mailing system has been identified as an issue which violates the principles of the Italian Constitution.4 According to Coassin (2006) in order to solve the issue of the secrecy and personality of the vote, polling stations should be created at Embassies and Consulates where Italian citizens can cast their vote in person. Problems related to the participation and to the electoral process has become a matter of discussion also in relation to the electoral lists created by the Italian institutions for Italians living abroad. The number of Italian residing overseas is currently uncertain due to a lack of an effective the registration system. Participation

4 See Titolo IV, Art. 48 (1) Italian Constitution: “Il voto e` personale ed eguale, libero e segreto” (The vote is personal and equal, free and secret).

37 and electoral turnout within the foreign constituency has come under some scrutiny of scholars that have started to express their concerns and have suggested options for improving the current expatriate voting system. Because of the vast composition of the electorate, Coassin (2006) suggested to review the policy, creating an ad hoc electoral registry for those Italians living abroad who explicitly wish to cast their votes during the Italian election. Grosso (2002) argues that the previous system, before the implementation of the foreign constituency, needs to be reconsidered, allowing Italians who are interested in casting their vote, to receive economic support to return home to their local electoral district. With the implementation of this system, Grosso (2002) suggested the complete elimination of the foreign constituency from the Italian constitution. The last concern debated by scholars in the literature on the expatriate voting policy is the use of electoral propaganda abroad. Parties’ propaganda in foreign countries has been one of the many issues discussed by the Italian government with foreign countries with a large presence of Italian citizens that were worried about the violation of their sovereignty (Mascitelli, Steel & Battiston 2010). Australia and Canada, for instance, initially did not support Italian expatriate voting policy since they did not want foreign political campaigns to occur within their national territory. For this reason, Italy had to agree to political campaign rules for the candidates that wish to run their campaigns abroad to represent the Italian transnational community in the Italian parliament. This issue has directly affected political parties as, in order to promote their political agenda, they need to engage with the Italian transnational community. An agreement with hosting countries needed to be made since, without this agreement, political parties cannot promote their candidature across nations that have a presence of Italian citizens (Sica 2004, Coassin 2006). The issue of the organisation of Italian political campaigns in foreign countries has, however, highlighted an issue within the Italian system. Italian political campaign rules aim to guarantee equal time exposure in media but this rule cannot be guaranteed in foreign countries where Italy has no juridical power to control political campaigns (Grosso 2002). This issue, once again, highlights the differences between the electoral systems implemented for the domestic electorate and that for the foreign constituency.

2.8 Italian citizenship

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Based on the ius sanguinis principle, the Italian citizenship policy (law 91/1992) allows the transmission of Italian citizenship to Italian descendants with no generation limitation. The Italian citizenship law has been defined by some as very generous and ambiguous law by some scholars (Zincone, 2006; Tarli Barbieri, 2007). According to Elia (2000) this law has always aimed to foster the cultural linkage amongst generations rather than strengthening a sense of responsibility and participation towards events and issues of the country of origin. Zincone (2006), in elaborating the concept of familismo (familism), argues that Italian citizenship has always been considered a matter of inheritance, restricted between parents and their children or husbands and wives. As a result, there are numerous limitations for people who wish to obtain the Italian citizenship based on the ius soli principle. According to Battiston and Mascitelli (2012) the Italian citizenship policy based on the ius sanguinis principle has fostered the creation of a new category of Italians outside the Italian borders. Since many Italian descendants can become Italian citizens thanks to blood ties, the Italian transnational community has been increasingly adding new members to the community as a result of the Italian citizenship policy. This group of Italian citizens, however, do not belong to the Italian community in Italy but they have developed their own Italian identity within the Italian transnational communities (Battiston & Mascitelli 2012). The implementation of dual citizenship in 1992, followed by the expatriate voting policies in 2001 have, furthermore, fostered this new Italian transnational identity of Italian emigrants and their descendants (Battiston & Mascitelli 2012). The generous policy, as defined by Zincone (2006), has caused some issues in relation to the acquisition of citizenship and the limitation in granting Italian citizenship rights to Italian citizens living abroad and to their descendants. In the current policy, there are no limitations in granting citizenship rights for Italian citizens and their descendants residing permanently in foreign countries. These rights include social, civic and political rights. Granting full political rights to emigrants and their descendants has generated a debate among scholars. Gratteri (2008) argues that the link between citizenship and voting rights should be reconsidered. Gratteri (2008) discusses the fact that in the Italian legislation there is no distinction between the concept of citizenship and nationality and, for this reason, it has been difficult to implement a system that could differentiate the process to grant citizenship rights and

39 political rights. Moreover, the author argues that the current system to grant citizenship rights should be reconsidered in light of the large and increasing number of Italian citizens within the Italian transnational community. The generalisation of the concept of citizenship and the lack of boundaries in granting citizenship rights has been a matter of discussion in the literature. Rescigno (1997) discussed the need to include two new concepts within the Italian legislative system: cittadinanza-appartenenza (citizenship-belonging) and cittadinanza-partecipazione (citizenship-participation). The author highlights the fact that there is a need to differentiate the acquisition process of citizenship rights. For instance, citizenship should not necessarily grant full political rights to all citizens (citizenship-participation) with not distinctions. For this reason, policy makers should engage in a new discussion on the principle included in the citizenship system (Rescigno 1997). However, despite the suggestions made by scholars, over the years, Italian policy makers have fully supported the Italian citizenship policy following the ius sanguinis principle for the acquisition and the transmission of citizenship rights. The transmission of the Italian citizenship by following the ius sanguinis cannot be considered the only issue that has caused the enlargement of the Italian transnational community. Another important element in the regulation of the Italian citizenship has been the implementation of dual citizenship rights. The inclusion of dual citizenship in the Italian law allowed the acquisition and re-acquisition of Italian citizenship among Italians generation after generation with no generational limit. In realising the problems caused by the lack of dual citizenship policy, Tarli Barbieri (2007) suggested that a new policy needed to be reconsidered starting from a discussion of a new method for the acquisition of full political and voting rights for Italian citizens that have dual citizenship but do not reside in Italy. Despite the concerns raised by scholars, Italian institutions have not raised doubts about the current policy for the acquisition of dual citizenship, considering Italian citizenship a “matter of blood ties” that should be transmitted through the generations. As Zincone (2007) indicates in the Italian context, blood ties of Italian descendants matter more than any real interest to take actively part the life of the country of origin. The Italian case represents the premonition made by Bauböck (2005). The author suggested that extending citizenship rights based on ethnicity reasons, such as the “blood connections”, could result in the extension of voting rights to first, second, and

40 third generations. As a result, “non-resident citizens” are allowed to cast their vote in the election in their country of origin, without being a resident (Bauböck 2005, Owen 2011). Moreover, important issues related to the transmission of Italian citizenship have been brought to the attention of policy makers by scholars about the overlapping of Italian citizenship and the European citizenship. Italian citizens are also European citizens since Italy is part the European Union (EU). According to Tarli Barbieri (2007) the desire to acquire Italian citizenship by many Italian descendants is driven by the interests in obtaining an EU passport rather than become part of the Italian community. Second and third generation of Italian descendants can lodge their application to obtain the Italian passport and gain full citizenship rights. However, the main interests for Italian descendants is the acquisition to the rights to live and travel within the EU member states with no visa restriction (Tarbi Barbieri 2007). This example demonstrates how the Italian citizenship policy has been exploited by Italian descendants for utilitarian purposes. Italian descendants generally showed little interest in becoming actively part of the Italian transnational community from a socio, economic, and, more importantly, political perspective. The acquisition of the Italian citizenship has been identified by scholars as an opportunistic choice and that this aspect is related to the concern on the legitimacy of dual citizenship practices.

2.9 Gap in the literature

While the importance of nation-states and their crucial role within the transnationalism framework has been recognised in the literature, no previous studies were conducted to explain the motivation that guides nation-states to implement such policies, especially in the Italian context. Previous empirical studies suggest that contextual factors, including the domestic political debate, are the most important elements that need to be analysed to comprehend the implementation of such policies (Tager 2006; Rhodes & Harutyunyan 2010). In the case of Italy, there are no previous empirical studies that have investigated the reasons for the implementation of policies to reconnect with Italian citizens living abroad. Understanding the reasons why nation- states implement expatriate voting and dual citizenship policies can clarify the role played by national government in the transnationalism framework.

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The gap in the literature relates to the question of political transnationalism from a domestic and national perspective. The research aims to investigate, analyse and discuss the drivers that fosters the implementation of the expatriate voting policy from the homeland perspective. Moreover, this research focuses on the role of domestic politics in the implementation of expatriate voting policies and the interest political parties can gain through the engagement of emigrants in political life of the country of origin. The necessity in creating a link between nation-state and transnational community has been analysed from the policy makers’ perspective. The research aims to explore whether transnational communities played a role in the implementation of such policy or whether the domestic political interest and political opportunism played the most important role in the discussion and implementation of such policies. No research has been previously conducted on the players that foster the implementation and maintain in place the Italian expatriate voting system.

2.10 Conclusion

This chapter has discussed the most relevant areas of investigation on migration studies, dual citizenship practices and expatriate voting policies from a theoretical and empirical perspective. The review of the literature has focused on the discussion of the implication of transnationalism policies from national point of view. Moreover, the academic debate on Italian citizenship and expatriate voting policies from a theoretical empirical perspective has been analysed to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Italian system. The discussion of the Italian transnational policies has offered the opportunity to understand the relevance of the Italian experience within a more general theoretical discussion of transnationalism practices. Moreover, the review of the literature has allowed the researcher to identify the gap in the literature which is the shifing approach of policy makers.

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CHAPTER 3

Research methodology

3.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive description of the choices made for this study is to design and conduct the research. The first part of the chapter discusses the purpose of the research, including the research design and the research questions that have guided this study. The second part of the chapter illustrates the research methodology and the samples used in the research. This section also discusses the motivation for undertaking a qualitative research project and the research methods. The following section discusses the data set used in the research. Interview strategy and document analysis have been described to understand the choice made by the researcher in regard to the data analysis method. The last part of the chapter focuses on the techniques used by the researcher to support the validity of the research, on the role of the researcher and the limitations of the research.

3.2 Purpose of the research

This research investigates political participation from abroad in the light of citizenship and transnationalism theories. The study examines the important role of nation-states in assigning voting rights with the focus on the Italian experience. The research aims to understand if and how the perception on the political engagement of Italian expatriates in the life of the homeland country has changed in the Italian political debate since 2001. The analysis has been conducted from a theoretical and political perspective. The goal of the research is to understand the drivers that fostered domestic politics to include transnational community in the political life of their home country by looking at the Italian experience. In light of the literature gap identified in the literature review, the purpose of the research is to investigate the reasons that favoured the implementation of expatriate voting policy as well as ascertaining the current opinion of Italian policy makers on this matter. The research wants to draw attention to policy makers’ perception and

43 reflection on the legitimacy of the electoral participation of Italian citizens residing permanently and temporarily abroad. 3.2.1 Research questions

The research questions that have guided the project are: a) What were the original motivations for the implementation of the Italian expatriate voting policy?

b) How have policy makers changed their perception towards the expatriate voting policy and citizenship policy since 2001?

3.3 Research design

This research was conducted following a qualitative methodology approach. In this study, 25 semi-structured in depth interviews were conducted from June 2014 to March 2016 in Italy and Australia. Interviews were conducted in person, by telephone and via email. The participants of this study include former and current members of Italian political parties, current and former members of Italian institutions, academics and experts in the field of electoral participation and Italian expatriate voting. Data collected through interviews represent the primary data in this research. Secondary data has been also included in the study. Figures and statistics provided by the Ministry of Interior on political turnout in the election have also been used for the study. This study also includes document analysis. Documents used in the research include law proposals submitted by MPs and Senators since 2007 to modify the current expatriate voting policy. Thematic data analysis was conducted for the interviews and for the document analysis and triangulation was used as the strategy to assess the data. In the following paragraphs the choices made by the researcher and the structure of the research are discussed more in detail.

3.4 Research methodology

The underlying philosophy used to conduct this qualitative research is constructivism. According to the constructivist paradigm “the reality can be constructed through representation and discourse as well as practices” (Waller, Farquharson & Dempsey 2015: 11). The assumption of the paradigm is that

44 knowledge is not found but it is constructed by the researcher and the participants. Patton (1985) stated: “Qualitative research is an effort to understand situations in their uniqueness as part of a particular context and the interactions there” (Patton 1985:1). Ultimately, the findings of the research will be the results of the researcher’s interaction with the world and, for this reason, data collected will be selective and incomplete because the vision of each person is limited (Waller, Farquharson & Dempsey 2015: 15). The purpose of qualitative research is to interpret people experiences, how they construct their worlds and the meaning participants gave to their experiences (Merriam 2009: 23). The qualitative methodology approach used in the research has been identified as the most appropriate methodology for the analysis of the debate on the expatriate voting policy from a policy makers’ point of view. In this research policy, Italian policy makers have provided their own interpretation of their experience on the expatriate voting. This qualitative research follows an inductive process for the analysis of data. The inductive process is often used by researchers in qualitative research due to a lack of theories which explain the phenomenon. The inductive strategy used in this research is further discussed in the section on the data analysis. Data gathered in the qualitative research helps the research to elaborate new concepts and theories. For this reason, this research further develops the theoretical discussion on the expatriate voting processes in light of findings reached with the analysis of the Italian experience. The contribution of the participants in this study and their narration and interpretation of events has drawn the attention to aspects that have not been taken into consideration by previous scholars in regard to the inclusion of transnational communities in the political life of the country of origin. This research provides a new perceptive on the discussion of the transnational political participation of emigrants.

3.5 Sample selection

The sampling strategy used in this research is the purposive sampling technique. As Merriam (2009: 77) explains, purposive sampling is a strategy used by researchers to access specific information. This sampling technique is used “to identify particular types of cases for in-depth investigation to gain a deeper understanding of types” (Neuman 2011: 198). In order to do so, researchers select a specific sample to obtain

45 the information they require. The purposive sampling technique is typically used to conduct information-rich research. Research aims to gain as much information as possible from an informed and selected sample (Patton 2002). Specific criteria were used to identify the sample used in the research. LeCompte, Preissle and Tresch (1993) suggest the criterion-based sampling technique facilitates the creation of the sample list based on essential attributes. Moreover, this non-random sample is used to locate difficult-to-reach populations such as politicians and members of institutions. For this research the sample used has been identified as policy makers. In this research, the group of policy makers includes current and former members of political parties. Due to their role, they were directly involved in the political debate on the expatriate voting policy. They were able to draft, vote and review policies according to the Italian political system. The sample also includes former and current members of Italian institutions such as members of the Constitutional Court. Moreover, academics and experts in the field of expatriate voting have been interviewed. The inclusion of academics and members of institutions in the sample finds a justification in the fact that academics and members of institutions can influence political debate and future actions of parliament on the matter. Academics can work as consultants for political parties while members of institutions can bring specific issues to the attention of legislative bodies. The group of current and former political party members was also chosen following a specific sampling ratio. It has been crucial to the research to have at least one representative from each of the major political parties in parliament in the sample. This offers the parties currently in parliament the opportunity to explain their position in regard to the expatriate voting policy. This sample choice offers the opportunity to investigate political parties’ ideas on the current expatriate voting policy and the foreseeable future in accordance with the composition of the Italian parliament. Party members were contacted based on their role in parliament and in the legislative process. MPs and Senators elected in the foreign constituency were contacted due to their role as representatives of the transnational community and their interest in the expatriate voting policy. All political parties’ members who signed a proposal to change the current expatriate voting policy were contacted due to their interest in the policy based on the proposal submitted to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Moreover, all MPs and Senators who belonged to the Parliamentary

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Committee of Foreign Affairs were contacted to contribute their perspective on this policy. MPs and Senators of all political parties in the current parliament were invited to join the research. Moreover, in order to understand the political context in which the policy was voted in 2000, political parties’ members in parliament at the time of approval were contacted to offer their perspective on the policy. Despite the efforts to ensure a balanced sample as outlined above, representation in the sample is uneven due to the interest demonstrated in the research. In some cases, multiple MPs and Senators belonging to the same parties were interviewed. Interviewing more than one member from each party, when possible, has also provided the opportunity to identity different perspectives within parties’ on the subject, even though the primary interest of the research was the investigation of parties’ position in regard to the policy. Participants were contacted directly via email or telephone. Personal assistants of political parties’ members were contacted to verify the availability of MPs and Senators. Documentation about the research was provided prior to the meeting. Interviewees had the opportunity to learn about the project and to become familiar with the interview questions before the interview was conducted. The number of interviews aimed for in this research was 24 interviews.

3.5.1 List of participants

This research includes 24 participants. Three participants asked to remain anonymous, thus names are not provided. Two of the three anonymous participants also asked not to be recorded during the interview. The following table shows the name of the participants, gender, how the interview was conducted and their category in the sample: political parties’ members, members of institutions or expert of the subject.

Table 3.1 List of participants Participant Institution/Political Party Gender Interview Amato, Giuliano Member of Constitutional Court/ Former Prime Minister M face to face Argenti, Antonio Consultant for Scelta Civica M phone Ceccanti, Stefano Academic/ Former PD MP M face to face Cirielli, Edmondo Alleanza Nazionale MP M e-mail

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Di Battista, Alessandro MoVimento 5 Stelle (M5S) M e-mail Fedi, Marco Partito Democratico (PD) MP M face to face Nissoli, Fucsia Per l'Italia MP F e-mail Fusaro, Carlo Academic/ Former MP Partito Repubblicano M face to face Garavini, Laura Partito Democratico (PD) MP F face to face Giacobbe, Francesco Partito Democratico (PD) Senator M phone La Marca, Francesca Partito Democratico (PD) MP F phone Lombardi, Norberto Consultant for Partito Democratico M face to face Malan, Lucio Forza Italia Senator (previous Lega Nord) M face to face Marino, Eugenio Manager of the Office for Italian Abroad (PD) M face to face Micheloni, Claudio Partito Democratico (PD) Senator M face to face Onida, Valerio Former President Constitutional Court M face to face Pascalis, Francesco Presidente Com.It.Es. Melbourne M face to face Razzi, Antonio Forza Italia Senator M face to face Rivolta, Dario Former Forza Italia MP M face to face Romano, Sergio Former Ambassador M face to face Scotto, Arturo Sinistra, Ecologia e Liberta MP M face to face **************** *************************************** ****** ********* Anonymous 1 Academic M phone Anonymous 2 Member of Institution M face to face Anonymous 3 Member of Institution F face to face Source: Author (2016)

The disparity between the genders in the sample is due to the dominant presence of males in Italian politics, government institutions and academia. In the current legislature, women elected in parliament occupy 30 per cent of the total number of seats (Dossier n° 116/IV edizione 2016).

3.5.2 Ethics approval

The research project has been approved by the Swinburne University of Technology Human Research Ethics Committee since this type of research requires the participation and human subjects. Appendix 1 includes the ethics approval of the project (SHR Project 2014/055). The project was conducted between April 2014 and March 2016. The ethics approval included draft questions for semi structured in-depth interviews and the consent form participants had to sign for the disclosure of their name in the project. Both documents were submitted in English and Italian since most of the interviews were conducted with participants of Italian mother tongue. Participants were informed prior to their interviews about the structure of the interview

48 and the privacy criteria chosen in the research. Participants could choose to participate anonymously to safeguard their political or institutional role. Participants had the possibility to withdraw from the project any time if the content of the interview would have interfered with their political or institutional role. Interviews and signed consent forms have been safely stored at Swinburne University of Technology. Access to interviews is safely protected by password in accordance with the university policy.

3.6 Data collection

The data set of this research includes semi structured in-depth interviews, document analysis of law proposals and figures on electoral turnout provided by the Italian Ministry of the Interior. The analysis of the data on electoral participation in the foreign constituency and the content of the law proposals helped to draft the questions for the interview.

3.6.1 Documents and online data

Documents and online data are included in the research data set. Glaser and Strauss (1969) compared field work and library research: “In those publications, people converse, announce positions, argue with a range of eloquence, and describe events or scenes in ways entirely comparable to what is seen and heard during fieldwork” (Glaser and Strauss 1969:163). Documents include law proposals submitted by political parties to review the existing expatriate voting policy. These proposals were submitted in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate due to the nature of the legislative system in Italy.5 The total number of proposals included in the research is 45. These documents are available in the online archive of the Senate. A full list of the documents included in the research is provided in Appendix 2. The analysis of these documents was crucial to understand the direction taken by political parties in reforming the existing policy. At the same time, it was possible to understand the impact of the electoral results in the political parties’ approach towards

5 Perfect bicameralism allows both Houses of the Parliament to start the legislative process with the submission of proposals to introduce new laws or review existing laws.

49 the expatriate voting policy. The analysis of data helped to draft the questions to conduct the semi-structured in-depth interviews. Moreover, data provided by Italian institutions such as the Ministry of the Interior online database on the electoral turnouts was analysed. Data includes statistics of political participation and electoral results. This data is provided by the Italian Historical Archive of Elections managed by the Ministry of the Interior. Figures on the presence of Italian citizens residing permanently abroad provided by the Ministry of the Interior were also included in the data set.

3.6.2 Semi-structured in-depth interviews

The semi-structured (or unstructured) interviewing method is considered the best method in qualitative research to understand the complex behaviour of interviewees without imposing any a priori categorisation that could limit the field of inquiry (Fontana and Frey 1994). Moreover, according to Merriam (2008: 88) interviews help to understand people’s interpretation of the world. Person-to-person interviews are also useful when people have to recall events from the past that cannot be replicated. Semi-structured in-depth interviews guarantee a deeper investigation of policy makers’ point of view and a deeper comprehension of the evolution of the debate among political parties in the last years. This method allows to “response to the situation at hand, to the emerging worldview of the respondent and to new ideas on the topic” (Merriam 2008: 90). The interviews were structured to cover four main aspects of the issue of interest. The questions were drafted after the analysis of the proposal submitted in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate and the analysis of the data on electoral turnouts in the foreign constituency. The document analysis and the secondary data analysis was very important to comprehend the focus of the policy makers and the implications of electoral results in the law proposals. Interviews further investigated the elements discovered in the document analysis to allow the policy makers to elaborate their opinions and intents. The first part of the interview aims to discuss with participants the history of implementation of the expatriate voting policy to understand their interpretation of the evolution of the debate. The second part of the interview discussed the current policy and analysed the perception of policy makers about the legitimacy of the political

50 participation from abroad in relation to its perception in Italy today. The third part of the interview offers the possibility for participants to indicate possible future scenarios for the policy. Despite the general guidelines of the semi-structured interviews, interviews have been modified based on different participants. For instance, experts of the field such as academics had the possibility to express their personal opinion while party members have provided answers that reflect the parties’ sentiment rather than their personal opinion. MPs and Senators were asked to describe political parties’ opinion about the matter and the action parties want to take in the future. MPs and Senators had also the opportunity to express their personal opinion, however, due to their institutional role, personal opinions were not expected. The interviews had also taken a different direction based also on the direct/indirect impact interviewees can potentially have on the policy. While MPs and Senators discussed the policy in terms of parties’ actions taken in the past legislatures, member of institutions and experts offered a critical perspective on the current policy and on its future.

3.6.3 Field work and data collection method

Interviews were conducted in Italy between of June 2014 and March 2016. Interviews were organised to suit interviewees’ timetable and availability. Interviews have been conducted mostly in person in Florence, Rome and Milan in Italy. The location had been agreed with the participant to meet participants’ needs. However, due to limited time to collect data in the field and on the availability of participants, interviews were also conducted by the phone. Phone interviews were conducted in Italy during the field work and also from Australia with participants who were not available in the months of June and July 2014. If none of these methods suited the interviewees but they were still willing to participate in the research, interviewees have been asked to answer the questions in written format via email. In this case, questions have been designed to suit the role of the participant. E-mail correspondence with participants who answered the questions via email was conducted from Australia. As Waller, Farquharson and Dempsey (2015:85) explain email interview can be appropriate if there is a time zone difference. This type of interview gives the participants the opportunity to give more thoughtful answers to the questions. Interviews were recorded with a digital recorder unless participants asked to remain

51 anonymous. Transcriptions of the interviews occurred during and at the end of the field work by the researcher who conducted the interviews.

3.6.4 Translation

Due to the nature of the research, interviews were conducted in Italian as the mother tongue of the majority of the participants. Only one interview was conducted in English. In this case the participant felt more comfortable to respond to the questions in English since English was the participant’s mother tongue. The transcripts of all interviews have been translated in English by the researcher since she is fluent in Italian and English. Despite Marshall and Rossman’s (2011) arguments on the difficulties of translating the exact meaning from one language to another and the legitimacy of direct quotes, back translation strategy has been used to ensure an accurate translation of the original interviews. For this reason, direct quotes have been used in the thesis. Back translation strategy has been used to confirm the accuracy of the translation.

3.7 Data analysis

Data analysis was conducted using a personal word processing program. The analysis of the data for this research started during the data collection as qualitative research requires. As Bogdan and Bicklen (2007) suggest, there are many benefits to start the data analysis while conducting the data collection. This strategy offers the possibility to adjust questions for future participants, to focus the interviews on specific topics, to narrow down the topic of the research considering the trajectory taken by participants during the interviews (Bogdan and Bicklen 2007). As for most qualitative research, this research has followed an inductive strategy. According to Merriam (2009) qualitative research based on inductive strategy elaborates finding in form of themes, categories or theories on specific phenomenon of investigation. For this reason, the method used to conduct the research is a thematic analysis.

3.7.1 Thematic Analysis

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Thematic analysis in one of the numerous methods to interpret data collected in the qualitative research. This method allows the researcher to identify patterns (or themes) within the data (Braun & Clarke 2006). As Braun and Clarke (2006: 82) explain: “A theme captures something important about the data in relation to the research question, and represents some level of patterned response or meaning within the data set”. Researches that follow an inductive strategy adopt thematic analysis for data to identify patterns related to the collected data without fitting in already existing coding (Patton 1990). Themes have been created beyond the semantic meaning of the data. The aim of this analysis is to identify latent ideas within data following the constructionist paradigm (Burr 1995). According to the constructive paradigm, the goal in conducting thematic analysis is to theorise sociocultural situations and not investigating the individual psychologies of participants (Braun & Clarke 2006). Indeed, themes based on latent content provide a more in-depth interpretation of data (Waller, Farquharson & Dempsey 2015). Within thematic analysis, coding technique was used for the analysis of the interview transcripts and for the proposal for the revision of the expatriate voting policy submitted in parliament by political parties. Coding data and documents hasfacilitated the identification of the themes. The identification of themes and sub-themes are aimed to produce a report of the research. This report includes a discussion of the findings from a theoretical perspective. Findings have been linked to the theoretical framework identified to conduct the research in order to address the research questions. The interpretation of data has provided responses to the research questions that have driven the research.

3.8 Validity and reliability

As for all qualitative research, this research has to address the problem of validity. Validity and reliability of qualitative research can be difficult to demonstrate due tothe fact that qualitative research starts from the assumption that reality is multidimensional and ever-changing. For this reason, qualitative research cannot discover objective phenomena that canbe measured (Merriam 2008: 213). According to Maxwell (2005) validity is relative and should be considered depending on the circumstances and the purpose of the project.

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The validity of this project has been assessed through the strategy of triangulation of data. The use of data triangulation allows the researcher to verify the content of interviews against the content of documents (Merriam 2009:215). Multiple sources of data have been used to conduct the research. Data include semi-structured in-depth interviews, proposals to review the policy submitted by political parties at the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate and statistics on participations and residency of Italian citizens from the Ministry of Interior. Another difficulty in qualitative research is to verify the external validity where findings can be valid for more than one specific situation. However, of this research does not want to provide a general valid answer. The purposive sampling technique used to identify participants was chosen because the research seeks to provide an in- depth understanding of the political perception of Italian politicians on the expatriate voting policy. The goal is to look at the general case and not to provide a generally correct answer.

3.8.1 Role of the researcher

The role of the researcher is also crucial in qualitative research. Indeed, ethical issues are raised when researchers collect data and analyse data to produce findings (Merriam 2009). The main ethical issues when conducting interviews is the relationship between the researcher and participants. According to Merriam (2009) the researcher should build a relationship based on trust with participants in order to gather the information needed. If trust is created between participants and the researchers, participants will be generally more willing to share their knowledge, experiences and thoughts. For this research, trust between participants and researcher was created prior to the interview, providing detailed documentation of the research to each participant. Official documentation from Swinburne University of Technology, including the ethics approval and a detailed description of the research were provided to participants to prove the validity of the research. The level of privacy requested by participants was ensured to meet the need of participants and, at the same time, to allow participants to disclose relevant information for the research.

3.8.2 Limitations

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There are some limitations in the research to be acknowledged for a better understanding on how the research has been conducted. Firstly, as previously discussed in this chapter, there is an imbalance between the number of men and women in the sample used for the research. This is due to the significant presence of men in Italian politics and institutions as well as in academia. Secondly, despite the attempt to provide at least one representative per political party based on the current composition of the parliament, this goal was not feasible due to a lack of availability of MPs and Senators in the parliament for the project. As a result, some political parties have not been represented or they are just represented by one member of the party. One of the relevant political party that is missing in the research is the Northen League Party (Lega Nord) even though Senator Malan entered the Italian parliament as a Northern League MPs and only few years later move to the Forza Italia party.

3.9 Conclusion

This chapter has provided a detailed description of the research design and of the choices made by the researchers in conducting this study. The purpose of the research and the gap this research have been stated, including the research questions that have guided the study. The research methodology and methods was described to understand the rationale used in the research to select participants for the qualitative data collection and for the document analysis. Triangulation of data was identified as the method used to support the validity of the findings. Moreover, in the chapter, the limitations of the research have been disclosed to support the reliability of research. In the following chapter, the history of the Italian emigration waves and the history of the expatriate voting in Italy will be disclosed and analysed.

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CHAPTER 4

The history of Italian migration and the expatriate voting policy

4.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to provide a historical background on the Italian migration history to understand the significance of the presence of Italian citizens around the world. In this chapter the approach adopted by Italian political institutions towards Italian migrants has been analysed in detail, focusing especially on the political significance of this emigration. This chapter explores the importance of this diaspora and the evolution of the debate over the implementation of the expatriate voting system. The first part of the chapter provides a historical excursus on Italian migration waves from the 1860s to the present. This section also looks at the socio-political perception Italian institutions had towards migrants. The second part of the chapter discusses the history of the expatriate voting policy, highlighting the decades-long debate amongst policy makers over the political inclusion of Italian citizens residing permanently overseas. Political parties’ interests and the political relevance of the implementation of the policy will be taken into account to provide a detailed political background of the policy. The Italian expatriate voting law and the Italian electoral law have been included in this section and will be described in detail to understand the divergent approaches in the election system to communities abroad compared to the domestic electorate. The third part of the chapter investigates the evolution of Italian citizenship law over the years. This excursus on the citizenship policy has the scope to highlight the process of implementation of the dual citizenship policy as well as the debate over the acquisition of the Italian citizenship. The two main topics included in the chapter are de facto interconnected in this analysis of the expatriate voting policy. They must be analysed as two dimensions of the expatriate voting issue. Equally, migration and citizenship policies have been part of the debate on the expatriate voting policy, and still are, indissoluble topics whenever addressing the legal and political rights and the political role of Italian citizens living abroad.

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4.2 History of Italian migration

According to Corti and Sanfilippo (2009: xxiii), Italy has always represented a meeting point of people and cultures since ancient times due to its central geographical location in the Mediterranean region, but also due to conflicts and redefinition of borders. However, the beginning of modern Italian migration commenced with the first mass migration wave in the late 1800s (Gabaccia 1997). Italy continued to experience significant mass migration for almost a century until the 1970s. Many Italians relocated either within Europe or to other continents as a consequence of dramatically unfavourable economic circumstances. Over the century, socio-political and economic issues on the Italian peninsula were the main reasons that forced people to relocate. Poverty, overpopulation, unemployment and natural disasters are some of the causes that forced Italians to leave their country (Mascitelli & Battiston 2008: 37). Despite the dramatic economic circumstances in Italy and the relocation to other countries for a better life , according to Stella and Frazina (2002) Italians struggled to integrate in many host countries, victims of anti-Italian sentiment especially in North America and, later in Australia. The hostile reception in those countries did not stop the emigration waves. On the contrary, records suggest that from 1876 to 1976 over 26 million people emigrated from Italy (Del Boca & Venturini 2003). The history of Italian migration can be divided in four different phases: 1) 1876- 1915; 2) 1916-1945; 3) 1946-1976; 4) 1976-1999 (Mafioletti & Colaiacono 2004). The period between 1876 and 1915 is also defined as the period of the Great Migration. The highest number of Italian migrants was recorded in those years. Before 1900, almost five million Italians, especially from the southern part of the peninsula, relocated abroad. At the beginning of the twentieth century, nine million southern Italians also migrated to the USA (Mafioletti & Colaiacono 2004: 182-183). The United States of America was the most popular destination for Italians in the nineteenth century. In the following years, this destination became less popular due to more restrictive immigration policies implemented by the USA government. From 1912 other destinations were also considered by Italian migrants including over 100,000 departures per year to European and non-European countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the USA (Audenino & Tirabassi 2008: 24).

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The rise of fascism impacted on the second migration phase (1916-1945). Mussolini’s regime tried to stem the flow of emigration especially before the Second World War, largely in function of the need for manpower for the war. Nonetheless, these years were characterised by major internal migration (from the south to the north of Italy) and by migration waves to France (Mascitelli & Battiston 2008: 36). Even in the early period of fascism, Mussolini demonstrated a great deal of interest in the Italian communities living abroad (Pretelli 2010). The Fascist Regime introduced the concept of “fuoriusciti” (émigrés) to refer to Italian emigrants. The goal of the fasci abroad was to control the Italian transnational community exporting and promoting Italian culture and Fascist ideas amongst Italian communities overseas. In 1923 the Italian government created the “Istituto di Credito per il lavoro italiano all’ estero” (Credit institute for Labour of Italians living abroad) to support creation of Italian businesses in foreign countries and to encourage the employment of Italians in such businesses (Pretelli 2010). Mussolini’s strategy to manage migration was two-pronged: on the one hand he tried to contain the phenomenon of migration and, at the same time, he valued the Italian communities overseas, mostly located in North America. Mussolini aimed to create a stronger connection between migrants and the “motherland”, using migrants to spread Fascist ideas in host countries (Cannistraro & Rosoli 1976: 676). In those years, the Duce also implemented the General Commissariat for Emigration under the Minister of Foreign Affairs; and in 1924 the National Congress of Emigration and Immigration was held in Rome. Despite the efforts and the interest demonstrated by Mussolini’s fascist regime to contain emigration, it continued unabated with almost 60,000 Italians leaving Italy annually for either European countries or elsewhere. Moreover, Fascism failed to influence the Italian expatriate communities’ interest in participating in the war. Despite the resources invested in creating bodies and policies that could maintain a strong connection between Italians abroad and the country of origin, the evolution of the war and the partnership with Nazism created many difficulties for Italians abroad (Pretelli 2010). It should be pointed out, however, that a positive sentiment towards Fascism remained alive for many years amongst some first-generation Italian emigrants who consider Fascism as the “Golden Age” of the country and for the interest Mussolini demonstrated towards Italian citizens living abroad (Pretelli 2009: 384).

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Based on the significant migration trends Italy was experiencing, the term Diaspora came into use. It was used for the first time in a political context by Enrico Corradini, founder of the Italian Nationalist party which was later joined by Mussolini. In one of his speeches Corradini accused the Liberal party of negligence towards migrants (Corradini 1923: 73). In the following years, the concept of the Italian Diaspora was adopted in order to describe the cavalier attitude of the country towards its citizens leaving their country of origin. The issue of the approach used by Italian institutions towards migrants will be discussed later in the chapter. The third period (1946-1976) encompasses the migration waves which occurred after the Second World War. Italy ended the war facing many challenges, high levels of unemployment and limited economic opportunities in the aftermath of Italy’s involvement in the war, leading to a new migration after the end of the Second World War. The most popular destinations at that time were European countries such as Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and France, but also overseas countries such as Australia and Canada (Castles et al. 1992: 37). In 1946 the Department of Italians Abroad was created to deal with issues related to emigrants’ relocation, later replaced by the Department of Emigration (1947). The effects of this mass migration had a significant social impact, in particular in rural areas where labourers abandoned their families, leaving women and children behind (Gabaccia 2000:71). In the years following World War II, from 1948 to 1953, De Gasperi’s Christian Democratic Party (DC) considered emigration “a vital necessity” to restore the Italian economy and manage demographic issues caused by the war (Castles et al. 1992: 36; Colucci 2002: 599). Italy entered into bilateral agreements with host countries such as the European states and Australia in order to support settlement of Italians. At the time left-wing parties such as the Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) were opposed to the governing Christian Democratic (DC) policies on mass emigration, highlighting the dramatic effect of emigration on the social fabric of the peninsula. Moreover, the PCI at the time accused the DC of using migration as an instrument to ignore the crisis in Italian rural areas and also the lack of employment (Colucci 2002: 599). Since 1976, the number of emigrants leaving Italy significantly declined due to better economic circumstances in Italy and in Europe. Moreover, the profile of migrants completely changed (Del Boca &Venturini 2003). Until 1976 migrants were mostly labourers and blue collar workers. In the fourth and last phase (1976-1999)

59 identified by Mafioletti and Colaiacomo (2004: 186), Italy did not experience significant movement of people. However, the profile of emigrants changed completely compared to previous waves. In this phase, emigrants were usually skilled and highly educated. At the same time, Italy started receiving waves of immigrants, changing the profile of the country from previously being a sending country to now being a receving country (Conti & Sanfilippo 2009: xxxi) The emigration waves Italy experienced over the years caused the relocation many Italian citizens overseas. However, it should also be highlighted that many Italians decided to return to their country of origin after some years. Italy experienced the phenomenon of return migration with more than five million Italians returning to Italy since the 1970s. For instance, one of the great examples of Italian return migration in the seventies was from Australia (Hugo 2012). While mass migration that characterised the twentieth century stopped towards the end of the century, in recent times Italy has registered an increase in the numbers of Italians living abroad. Since the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2007, Italy started to face new economic difficulties. The economic crisis created a shortage of jobs, especially for the younger generation, forcing Italian citizens to relocate to other countries, in Europe and overseas. The beginning of this new migration wave has recently become of interest to scholars and migration experts. Even though it has been argued that this new migration has different characteristics compared to the mass migration in previous centuries (Tirabassi & del Pra’ 2014), this new scenario is contributing to open a page in the history of Italian migration. Moreover, due to the new relocation of Italians abroad, the number of Italian citizens living permanently abroad has increased, affecting the composition of the Italian transnational community. In conclusion, Table 4.1 highlights the significant number of Italian citizens who migrated over the centuries. Of note, Italian migration had two peaks in its history. During the Great Migration in the late 1880s almost 14 million Italians relocated mostly to other European countries or America. The second migration wave occurred after the Second World War due to dramatic economic situation in the country.

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Table 4.1: Italian Emigration 1876-1985 Years Italian Emigrants 1876-1914 13,882,000 1915-1945 9,605,000 1946-1976 12,654,000 1977-1985 861,000 Source: Author’s adaptation from Del Boca and Venturini (2003: 2), Tintori (2006:58).

In current times, data available on migration can be retrieved from the AIRE (Anagrafe Italiana Residenti all’ Estero). Since the implementation of the registry, in 1988, data from Italian institutions offers the possibility of understanding the number of Italian citizens living abroad. It should be noted, however, that these numbers include both Italian emigrants and their descendants that could acquire or re-acquire the Italian citizenship. With the implementation of the dual citizenship policy, in 1992 the number of Italian citizens residing abroad has been increasing, causing a consistent enlargement of the Italian transnational community.

4.2.1 The AIRE registry for Italians abroad

According to data provided by the Italian Ministry of the Interior, over the last ten years the number of Italians living permanently abroad has significantly increased. A new migration trend that has affected Italy has generated a new discussion among scholars whether Italy is currently experiencing a new emigration wave. According to IDOS- Immigrazione Dossier Statistico (2015)- the number of Italian citizens residing permanently abroad in 2014 was 4,637,000. This figure represents the number of Italians registered at the registry for Italians residing permanently abroad named AIRE (Anagrafe Italiana Residenti all’ Estero). This registry includes only Italian permanent migrants: people who relocate to a foreign country for more than twelve months. The registration at the AIRE is a voluntary registry and the registration has to be made by Italians citizens in person when relocating. However, the AIRE registry also includes Italian citizens living permanently abroad who have acquired the Italian citizenship by descendent (second

61 and third generations of Italians) or by naturalisation. These citizens are automatically included in the registry by the consulates and embassies when citizenship is acquired. Due to the dual registration method, this semi-voluntary system has caused some difficulties in the census of Italians living abroad. Moreover, the figures provided by IDOS cannot be considered completely accurate since AIRE registration is not compulsory. Some Italians prefer not to register with AIRE for a range of reasons. Furthermore, Italians residing abroad for less than twelve months are not entitled to register with AIRE. The exclusion of this group of migrants has created difficulties in estimating the real number of Italians abroad at any point in time. The difficulties experienced in the quantification of Italians abroad is also due to the late implementation of the census system for Italians. This system was implemented in 1988, however the largest emigration waves had ended many years earlier. The majority of Italian migrants had relocated prior 1914 and continued during and after the two World Wars and the delay in the implementation of the census system has resulted in an inability to provide an accurate estimation of Italian citizens around the word. Despite the difficulties, data of the Ministry of the Interior give an overall idea on the composition of the current Italian transnational community and electorate abroad. The problem caused by the late implementation of the AIRE is only one of numerous issues that have been affecting the efficiency of the census system for Italians abroad. Moreover, the new Italian migration has brought new challenges for Italian institutions to provide an accurate evaluation of the current Italian transnational community. The new migration wave appears to be unique in its composition and in the relocation process due to their recurrent relocation in foreign countries, causing major dysfunctions in tracking them.

4.2.2 The new Italian emigration wave

This new migration wave started in 2008 and was triggered by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) that affected many European countries including Italy. One of the most significant consequences of the GFC has been the rise of the unemployment rate among younger people. In the first trimester of 2013, the youth unemployment rate (15-24 years old) reached 41.9 per cent (Tirabassi & del Pra’ 2014: 11). The difficult economic situation in the country triggered a new process of relocation of Italians to

62 wealthier European states or overseas. According to the Censis report (2013: 31-32), in 2002 almost 50,000 Italians moved their residency abroad. Ten years later, in 2012, the number of Italians permanently abroad rose to 106,000, showing a significant boost in emigration numbers. The registration of new migrants in their relocation process has become a difficult task for many reasons. Firstly, the free movement of people within the European Union (EU) member states has facilitated relocation abroad. The removal of borders and customs caused an inevitable lack of control to track citizens relocating abroad. Secondly, the new migration wave has been characterised by Italians citizens who move more frequently and rarely settle in one foreign country (Tirabassi & del Pra’ 2015). The Erasmus program for university students, for instance, has fostered temporarily relocation of many Italians over the years. The interesting aspect of this new emigration wave is its composition. New Italian emigrants are mostly highly educated with no difference in terms of gender and many relocate alone and not with their families (Tirabassi & del Pra’ 2014: 5). This new emigration wave, despite the limited number of emigrants compared to the more significant emigration waves of the twentieth century, has drawn once again the attention towards the relations between Italy and its transnational community.

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4.3 Perceptions on migration

The perception of migration differs within the Italian political arena today. Tassello (1997) argues the phenomenon of migration has never been considered an important issue in the political and social debate of the country. According to the author, Italian policy makers never faced the problem with appropriate policies (Tassello 1997: 487). Choate (2007) defined Italy a non-efficient country that left migrants to their own devices. From 1860 to 1971, it appears political parties faced the phenomenon in the same way. Migration was seen as an inevitable consequence and it was sometimes encouraged by some politicians at that time (Monferrini 1987). The demographic growth which occurred in the southern part of Italy became one of the main causes of mass migration (Monferrini 1987). During the First World War, despite the need for military personnel, Italian institutions demonstrated a general support towards migration. The economic consequences caused by the war in the country helped to foster the implementation of a system to assist migrants to relocate abroad, and as such, this new system of assistance could be interpreted as a way of encouraging Italian citizens to relocate abroad (Monferrini 1987). However, Mussolini, ironically, was the first political leader to make an attempt to use Italian communities overseas as a vehicle to spread Fascist ideals (Pretelli 2010). Mussolini and his fascist regime even attempted to assist migrants to gain the skills needed to become eligible to migrate to the United States. Based on more restrictive rules implemented by the American government, the United States became more selective in receiving migrants from Europe. This new policy forced the Italian government to introduce new ways to facilitate Italian migration. There is no doubt the actions taken by the Italian government at that stage were made for utilitarian reasons in order to decrease the pressure on institutions caused by overpopulation and economic difficulties. At the end of the Second World War, political parties saw organised migration as the solution to the economic disparities between the more developed north and the economically underdeveloped south. This position seemed to be justified and supported by both sides of the parliament, showing a general agreement on what to do with these migrant waves. Migration would have helped the problem of unemployment Italy faced in late 1940s early 1950s.

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The unemployment issue remained the primary cause of relocation abroad for many Italians until the early 1960s, when the Italian economic boom started. Because of the favourable economic situation, during that period Italy registered for the first time larger number of Italians returning home than emigrating. From 1960 until 1975, political parties showed little interest in the phenomenon of migration. During the first National Conference of Migration in 1975 the topic was brought to light with the aim to understand the causes of migration over the previous decades. These were the years in which the left side of the politics began to blame the centre parties for their inability to manage emigration and to not have an economic plan to tackle emigration (Monferrini 1987: 86). In the 1970s, political parties like the Italian Social Movement (MSI), the Christian Democratic Party (DC), Italian Republican Party (PRI) and the Italian Communist Party (PCI) agreed to stop the phenomenon of migration and thereby provide job opportunities in those areas where the labour force was available. Parties were mostly concerned about the poor economic situation of the Italian South where people had to leave their home searching for better job opportunities elsewhere. Migration was understood as a phenomenon to tackle with economic policies because it was strictly linked to the question of employment. During the Conference in 1975 the Prime Minister at the time, Aldo Moro, stated that migration had to become a free choice of individuals rather than a forced choice made due to economic circumstances (Monferrini 1987: 107) In the 1980s, policy makers started to reconnect with Italian communities residing permanently overseas. Over this decade, Italy tried again to establish cultural, economic and political ties with Italian expatriates and their descendants to keep in touch with the citizens abroad. Efforts were undertaken by Italian political parties to strengthen the ties with Italian migrants through citizenship legislation. Policy makers perceived migrants as strategic assets for the Italian economy and for Italian foreign policy (Tintori 2011: 172). Due to the large scale of migration waves, Italian communities provided, according to some, a powerful network of lobbies that influenced political interests either in host countries or back in the homeland. In many cases, the political lobbying system and pressures coming from the expatriate communities were a direct result of directives of political parties in Italy (Tintori 2009: 114). Institutions such as the registry of Italians residing permanently overseas (AIRE)

65 and other representative’s organisations like Com.It.Es. (Comitati per gli Italiani all’ Estero) and CGIE (Consiglio Generale degli Italiani all’ Estero) were created. According to Bettinelli, in the 1980s, the approach towards Italian emigrants completely changed, defining it as a moment when Italian political institutions confronted their unresolved guilt towards Italians abroad. The sense of guilt was based on the fact that Italy abandoned its citizens in their time of need and that it was the time to correct this mistake. To redeem the country’s credibility after facilitating Italians to migrate with the aim of releasing the economic and social pressure before and after the two World Wars, Italy tried to create a new vision of the Italian community abroad. Italians abroad started to be perceived as the guardians of Italian heritage, culture and values around the world and not as an enormous inconvenience (Bettinelli 1995). Italian political institutions and political parties came to the realisation that Italians abroad, long seen as a source of embarrassment and of little value politically, could be considered a potential political asset. In the late 1980s institutional organisations for the representation of Italians living abroad were created. This was the first step towards the complete process for the reconnection of the Italian transnational community. In 1992 the implementation of the new Italian citizenship policy, which allowed dual citizenship for Italian citizens, was a further policy implemented with the desire to maintain connection with Italians and their descendants living outside the Italian borders. In those years, the role of MP Tremaglia became crucial in the discussion on the political inclusion of non-resident citizens. Tremaglia submitted numerous proposals with no success. However, his determination over the 1990s allowed him to eventually succeed in his intent to include Italians living abroad in Italy’s political system. The process of inclusion of migrants in the political system found its completion with the implementation of the expatriate voting policy. The implementation of the expatriate voting policy (law 459/2001) was the result of a century-long debate about the political role of the Italian citizens residing permanently overseas that created what the literature defines transnational community.

4.4 The Italian expatriate vote

In response to the Italian diaspora, the Italian policy makers had to face the dilemma of how to include Italian citizens living overseas in the life of their home

66 country. This issue to promote the inclusion of the Italian communities overseas entered the political agenda of most political parties. The political connection with Italian citizens entered the party agendas. Despite the difficulties encountered and the disagreement demonstrated in parliament over the years, political involvement of Italian citizens residing permanently abroad was considered the best tool for the inclusion of expatriates in the life of their country of origin.

4.4.1 From 1901 to the period of Fascism

The discussion on the political participation of Italian citizens residing permanently overseas was part of the longest political debate Italy ever faced. The inclusion of migrants in the Italian political system was ventured into for the first time in the first half of the twentieth century. This debate ended with the implementation of the law a century later, in 2001. Before the implementation of the law 459/2001 Italians wherever they lived could cast their vote in Italian elections by returning to Italy in their constituencies of last residency. This was the only possibility Italian citizens had to cast their vote. Over the years, policy makers recognised the important presence of Italian communities living outside Italian borders and this new realisation made them interested in the potential of political engagement of Italian citizens living outside Italian borders. As previously stated, the journey for the implementation of the expatriate voting policy was a long and complicated journey. As a consequence of the first migration wave, in 1901 the Commissariato Generale dell’ Emigrazione (General Commission of Emigration) was created to provide services to Italians living abroad. Over the course of many years the Commission produced a document called the Bollettino dell’ Emigrazione (The Emigration Bulletin). These monthly bulletins contained statistics and reports of communication between the Italian governments and Italian embassies around the world (Aliano 2010: 40-41). Between 1908 and 1923 first political references to Italian external political participation and representation of migrants abroad were made in Parliament. In 1908, during the First Congress of the Italians abroad in Rome, the issue of guaranteeing voting rights for Italian citizens living abroad were mentioned, highlighting the desire of many migrants to actively participate in the political life of Italy (Tarantino 2007:7).

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Despite the interest expressed by some in including migrants in the election of the country, the proposal was dismissed with no further action by policy makers. During the Second Congress of Italians Abroad, the issue of the political participation of Italian citizens living overseas was included in the agenda but did not receive the attention desired (Cabrini 1911, cited in Ciuffoletti and De Innocenti 1978). Some years later, MP Cingolani, during his speech in the 1945 Constituent Assembly, remembered that in 1919, during the Italian Colonial Committee, MP Cabrini proposed the possibility to extend political rights to Italian migrants (Seminario e Tavola Rotonda 1988). The political engagement of Italians residing permanently abroad was also discussed in the years before the First World War under Giolitti’s government with little consequence. During Fascism, Italian institutions considered the presence of Italians abroad as an important electoral constituency. Mussolini considered the possibility of involving migrants in the Italian election for nationalistic purposes. In 1927 the General Commission of Emigration changed its name to General Bureau of Italians Abroad. Moreover, Fascism modified the perception of expatriates, rejecting the term “emigrant” in favour of the term “citizens abroad” to highlight the sense of belonging of Italian expatriates: migrants were Italian citizens first and foremost (Smith 2003: 741). The connection between Fascism and migrants caused the stereotype that most Italians abroad were conservative and right-wing nationalists (Lafleur 2011: 489). This stereotype lasted for decades and it played a major role in the political debate about the political involvement of Italian migrants in the following years.

4.4.2 The expatriate voting debate from the 1940s to 1980s

With the post-war new Italian republic coming into being in 1948, the question of voting rights to all Italians received universal acknowledgement and was incorporated in its new constitution. According to Tarantino (2007) as early as 1945 Cingolani identified for the first time the juridical motivation to support the participation of expatriates in Italian political life. According to the Italian constitution every citizen has the right to contribute to the political life of his/her country of citizenship (Tarantino 2007:7). What was not considered in the new constitution was the way in which the vote could have been guaranteed for Italians abroad. However, the inclusion of expatriates in the electoral system in Italy became a marginal issue in the discussion

68 of electoral right of Italian citizens, despite the Italian constitution clearly stating that all Italians had the rights to vote with no limitations in term of residency (Mascitelli and Battiston 2008). The proposal for the implementation of the expatriate voting system re-emerged with MP Ferretti in 1955 and remained actively pursued by the neo Fascist party, the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI), until 1971. This right wing party saw significant political opportunities in the ‘reserve of votes’ of Italian transnational communities abroad. Over the years the MSI, that later changed its name to Alleanza Nazionale, became the party that strongly supported the inclusion of Italian citizens in the electoral process with the vote from overseas (Mascitelli and Battiston 2008). Other policy makers, on the other hand, did not support the idea of allowing expatriates to participate to the Italian political elections from abroad. The director of Italians Abroad (Italiani nel Mondo) Felletti was one of many policy makers who did not encourage the proposal on the expatriate vote. According to Felletti (1956), this system would have created division within the Italian communities abroad, it could have created difficulties with the country in which migrants were living and this practice could have caused discriminatory actions towards migrants. Other organisations expressed their reservations to the inclusion of Italian migrants in the electoral system from overseas. In 1971 research conducted by National Committee of Economy and Labour (CNEL) stated that elections run in host countries could not guarantee the minimum juridical and democratic guarantees (Monferrini 1987). The same opinion was shared by the Italian Federation of Italian Workers and Families (FILEF) during the European Assembly on migration held in Brussels in 1973 and by the Christian Association of Italian labourers (ACLI) during the first National Conference of Migration in 1972. While many organisations were obstructing the vote from abroad, some political parties started to understand the advantages in the implementation of the new electoral system. In the 1970s, the right wing Catholic party (DC) realised there was political mileage to be gained from allowing Italians to vote in Italian elections from abroad. The importance given to the expatriate vote from the DC had a second reason, namely a reduction of the influence of the left wing parties and especially the Italian Communist Party abroad. According to Lafleur (2012) three significant events helped the change in attitude of the new view of political parties towards the expatriate voting

69 system: 1) the economic development of Italy and the end of mass emigration after 1976, 2) the transformation of the domestic political scene, and 3) the efforts of migrants to break a deal on external voting between political parties (Lafleur 2012: 78). According to Fusaro (2002), in the 1980s, DC started to consider the proposal of the MSI for the implementation of the expatriate voting because they did not want MSI to be the only party to support the inclusion of Italians living abroad in the electoral system and eventually gaining the support of the electors outside the Italian borders. In the 1960s the DC party had already implemented the slogan “Return to vote, vote to return” showing a new interest from this political party in this matter. The party aimed to promote the return of migrants during the elections to gather votes from people coming back to Italy (Colucci 2002: 598-600). The party, however, never supported the idea of letting migrants vote from abroad. After many years of scepticism, the Communist Party (PCI) also understood and began to see the importance of the reservoir of votes coming from abroad. The chair of the Emigration Office for the PCI, Pajetta estimated an average of 300,000 people who returned to Italy to cast their vote during the elections in 1973, most of them coming from Europe. This figure became of great interest to the party and PCI started a campaign to help Italians return home. The reform of the citizenship policy during those years helped to re-establish connections with those migrants who had lost their Italian citizenship. This reform returned the Italian citizenship and full voting rights to many Italian emigrants who lost their Italian citizenship due to domestic policies of the country of residency. In 1979 law 40/1979 was implemented and allowed Italians living abroad to be registered in the electoral lists with no time limits of residency unless they renounced their Italian citizenship. Moreover, Italians who had been removed from the voting lists could be reinstated (Battiston & Mascitelli 2012: 26). In the same year, another important event influenced the Italian and European political arena. In 1979 European parliamentary elections took place and this event helped Italy build bilateral relations with European countries in order to allow Italian residents in the EEC (European Economic Community) countries to cast their vote without returning to Italy. This was the first time Italians could vote in loco or via mail from overseas without returning to their home country. Moreover, law 40/1979 allowed Italians to be enrolled in electoral

70 registers without any limitations in terms of time or location as long as they had not renounced their Italian citizenship. Despite the numerous proposals submitted between 1955 and 1988 on reforming expatriate voting, no agreement could be found mostly due to disinterest and ideological divisions between the left and the right in Parliament. Carlo Fusaro, during the Second National Conference on Migration in 1988, described the inability to pass a law on the expatriate vote due to a lack of interest from political parties (Seminario e Tavola Rotonda 1988). The left wing had always been more in favour of the integration process of Italian migrants in the host countries while MSI, and other parties, strongly supported the vote from abroad and the maintenance of the link with Italian expatriates

4.4.3 The 1980s and creation of representing bodies for Italians abroad

The PCI change of mind served the purpose for the future implementation of the policy. Members of the party demonstrated an openness for discussion in Parliamentary Committees about the matter, despite the feeling that some members of the party still kept their doubts. These MPs considered the expatriate voting system a mechanism for right wing parties to spread their political ideals (Ghini 1980). This assumption made by the PCI also found evidence in the poll conducted in 1983 and published on the Italian-American newspaper “Il Progresso Italo-Americano” (the Italo-American Progress). The outcome of the poll showed that most Italians abroad would have voted for the right wing parties (Mascitelli and Battiston 2008). Even though the journey of the expatriate voting policy was not making any progress, Italian communities abroad gained more importance in the 1980s with the creation of structured institutions for the Italian transnational communities. Law 205/1985 created the Committee of Italians Abroad also known with the acronym Com.It.Es. (Comitati degli Italian all’estero). The aim of Com.It.Es. was to promote Italian cultural and social activities in the countries where there was an important presence of Italians. In 1988, the Registration of the Italian Citizens Residing Abroad (AIRE) was established and in 1989, with law 368/1989, the General Council of Italians Abroad (CGIE) were created to represent the Italian communities abroad to engage in a dialogue with the Italian government about the role and the issues of Italian

71 communities overseas. The CGIE is also one of the organisations that supported external voting, highlighting the role and economic importance played by emigrants in the home country. In 1988, the Second National Emigration Conference was held in Rome. The aim of this conference was to demonstrate the crucial role of the Italian community overseas (italiani nel mondo) and the awakening sense of Italian belonging (italianità) spread around Italian descendants. As Tarantino stated, the 1980s became crucial years for the future of the expatriate voting policies (Battiston and Mascitelli 2012: 27). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Italy witnessed significant changes to its political system. The country saw the old parties such as DC (Democrazia Cristiana) and MSI (Movimento Sociale Italiano) disappear almost overnight and new parties emerge. The Constitutional changes started, according to some historians, a new political phase in the history of the country addressed as the ‘Second Republic’. The changes in the Italian political context brought new leaders and new dynamics into the Italian parliament. Despite the difficult times and the new political dynamics in the country, the topic of expatriate voting did not disappear. It was in the throes of the so called ‘Second Republic’ which transformed the expatriate voting policy from an idea to a reality thanks to Mirko Tremaglia and his proposals in 1993 (Mascitelli & Battiston 2008: 94). Parties like the reinvented Alleanza Nazionale (previously called MSI) were able to include the issue of expatriate voting as one of the main topics on the party agenda and push the theme in parliament. The Italian political system and the political parties’ turnover in these years allowed new political parties to start new negotiations on expatriate voting matters which eventually favoured the Alleanza Nazionale party.

4.4.4 The expatriate voting debate through the law proposals

During the Second National Emigration Conference, some academics and experts in the field of electoral studies took part in the debate about the potential implementation and the future of the expatriate voting policy. Fusaro provided a comprehensive summary of the proposals submitted over the years, including the content of each proposal to demonstrate political parties’ attitude towards the

72 participation of Italian citizens living in foreign countries in the elections (Seminario e Tavola Rotonda 1988). From 1953 to the 1979 legislature, parties submitted 48 proposals. These proposals had different intentions: seven were proposals to modify the Constitutions, 34 submitted at the Chambers of Deputies and 14 at the Senate. The proposals listed also included the one proposal coming from electors’ initiative (1977) and one presented by the Veneto Region. Most of the time, these proposals were repetitions of previous proposals submitted by previous members. The content represented similar changes political parties wished to make over the years. Only few of these contained original content. At the beginning only the right wing parties (MSI and the Monarchist party) submitted proposals to implement an expatriate voting system. The first proposal submitted by one DC member appeared during the IV legislature (1963-1968), showing the lack of interest of the party at that time in this matter. The first socialist proposal submitted only came in the V legislature (1968-1972). Almost all proposals hoped for migrants to cast their vote from abroad through their local embassies and consulates. In 1976, the leader of the neo-fascist party (MSI) Almirante submitted the proposal for implementing the voting system for overseas Italians and allowing them to vote by correspondence. This proposal was supported by foreseeable logistics issues in the organisation of ballots stations overseas. The voting by correspondence system was supported also by the Unified Socialist Party at that time. From 1977 until 1982 the Christian Democratic Party (DC), the largest party at that time, showed some interest in the issue of the political participation from overseas with the submission of eight proposals, supporting the correspondence system as the casting method. The interest showed by DC gave hope to policy makers who supported the policy, for the first time, for the successful implementation of the expatriate voting policy. As previously mentioned, the interest demonstrated by DC was a consequence of an internal crisis within the party. This crisis brought the party to consider the possibility of allowing Italian migrants to cast their vote from overseas. This new approach aimed also to take control of this matter from the MSI. If DC had decided not to express their interest in the topic, this would have only benefited MSI in the polling results. This was a scenario DC wanted to avoid.

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Another important element to include in the analysis of the proposals is the content regarding the issue of the voting standards for the electorate residing at home. In accordance with the Italian constitution, institutions have to guarantee the equality, the secrecy and the freedom of vote during elections. For instance, proposals for constitutional changes to include the foreign constituency were submitted only after 1984. This is a significant moment in the evolution of the debate on expatriate voting. According to some policy makers, the foreign constituency would have been able to safeguard the votes from abroad rather than allowing expatriates to vote for domestic constituency. However, the debate on the foreign constituency was not solely related to the constitutional guarantees. Over the decades, proposals submitted by political parties until 1988 wanted to address issues that were affecting the Italian communities overseas such as the problem of residency and domicile, citizenship and dual citizenship, the registration on electoral lists. Other matters of discussion included the necessity to have a registry only for Italians living abroad and the inclusion of the expatriates in the domestic electoral system. The inclusion of expatriate voting raised some questions that needed to be addressed such as the representation in parliament of the transnational communities, the method for the political propaganda in foreign countries, and the voting system from abroad. It is easy to understand the expatriate voting system could not be implemented without addressing these crucial issues. However, the major problem policy makers had to deal with at that time, and it is still an issue today, is the method by which Italian citizens residing abroad could cast their vote. The dilemma among policy makers was the form of voting by correspondence versus the vote in person. Fusaro noted political parties at that time supported the vote in person with nine proposals rather than the vote by correspondence (six proposals) (Seminario e Tavola Rotonda 1988). The vote by correspondence was supported later in the debate together with the creation of the foreign constituency. Despite the numerous attempts made by political parties to implement the policy over the decades, Fusaro notes that what characterised the discussion of the policy in those years was a lack of interest on the matter: “Despite some statements based on principles, in parliament there has never been a declared opposition as well as a majority in favour to the implementation of an expatriate voting policy” (Seminario e

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Tavola Rotonda 1988: 40). This attitude, as a consequence, resulted in the unsuccessful implementation of the policy despite the efforts of the MSI. The last aspect of this journey of the law between 1945 until 1988 is the approach used by different governments over the years. Since 1945 governments always understood the implementation of expatriate voting as a complex policy to implement. Governments had always recognised the importance and the necessity to find a solution to the matter of the inclusion of Italians living abroad in the elections. However, until 2001 governments had not been able to provide a clear piece of legislation to its implementation. In the timeframe investigated, the only solution found for the inclusion of Italians residing overseas during the election was the implementation of a law to allow Italian citizens to vote during the elections for the European Parliament in 1979.

4.4.5 The 1990s and the role of Mirko Tremaglia

In the 1970s and 1980s Mirko Tremaglia, Member of Parliament of the neo-fascist party MSI, showed his profound interest in the expatriate voting matter. He had already submitted proposals on this issue during the VII, VIII, IX and X legislatures (from 1976 to 1993) with no results. The1990s finally saw a real speedup in the acceptance of expatriate voting for Italians living abroad. Both wings of the parliament became more interested in discussing the implementation of the expatriate voting system with less of an ideological preconception. The new approach started with implementation of the new citizenship policy. In 1992 the citizenship law 91/1992 was implemented, renewing the principle of the ius sanguinis for the recognition of Italian citizenship (principle already established in the law 555/1912). Moreover, this law, currently regulating the citizenship subject in Italy, allowed Italian citizens to have dual citizenship. The law aimed to encourage Italian citizens to keep, transmit to future generations or regain the Italian citizenship (Gallo & Tintori 2006:10). The following year, in 1993, Tremaglia submitted for the first time a proposal that included the creation of four electoral districts abroad in which Italians overseas could have 20 elected MPs. This will be later renamed “foreign constituency”. Tremaglia became the most important exponent in the parliament for the recognition and support of expatriate voting rights. However, the proposal was rejected at that time due to

75 constitutional unsuitability since it required a modification of the constitution. Political parties in that period did not want to face the process of a constitutional change to include the foreign constituency. Despite this rejection, Tremaglia did not abandon the project of the foreign constituency. Again in 1993, the Senate approved another draft to modify the constitution that was then sent for approval of the Parliament. Once again, the proposal was stopped by the MPs of the Northern League (Lega Nord) and the Left-wing Democratic Party (PDS). These two parties were worried about the complex mechanism institutions had to implement to cast votes from overseas (PDS) or they were completely against the idea of expatriate voting. As Italians abroad were not paying taxes as Italians in Italy, the Northern League did not support the proposal for the implementation of the expatriate voting. In 1994 again Tremaglia submitted, again, a proposal to change article 48 and 57 of the constitution for the implementation of the Foreign Constituency. This change was necessary to allow Italian expatriates to elect their own representatives in Parliament based on Tremaglia’s proposal. Once again Tremaglia was stopped. The beginning of the 1990s did not work in favour of Tremaglia but this would change some years later. Together with Forza Italia (Berlusconi’s party) Tremaglia found the way to succeed. Other proposals for constitutional changes were submitted to implement and regulate the vote from overseas. In the second half of the 1990s, thanks to the coalition with Berlusconi and an agreement between the two coalitions (centre-left and centre-right) articles 48, 56, 57 of the constitution were modified with the constitutional laws 1/2000 and 1/2001. These changes allowed the implementation of the foreign constituency. The implementation of the policy was finalised with the implementation of law 459/2001 to regulate the voting procedures from abroad. This law passed with a majority support in Parliament.

4.4.6 The relations within the governing coalitions in 2000 and 2001

The successful implementation of the foreign constituency was possible due to the bi-partisan support of the policy in parliament. The political dynamics within the centre-left and centre-right coalitions and amongst the two sides of the parliament, became crucial and, for this reason, these dynamics are discussed in detail. Understanding the political context in which the constitutional changes were voted in,

76 is fundamental to understanding Tremaglia’s role in the centre-right coalition in the 2001 elections. As previously mentioned, Tremaglia’s first attempt to implement the expatriate voting policy occurred in 1994, when the centre-right coalition, led by Silvio Berlusconi, was governing the country. Alleanza Nazionale (AN), Tremaglia’s party, was part of the coalition; thus he was able to introduce the proposal into parliament. This first attempt, however, failed due to limited political support. At the time the centre-left parties were not interested in supporting the policy. Despite its initial rejection, Tremaglia continued his personal battle to implement the expatriate voting policy. He succeeded in 2001 even though the centre-right coalition was not governing the country and was in the opposition. In 2000 and 2001, when the constitutional amendments were approved and articles 48, 56 and 57 were changed to include the foreign constituency, the governing coalition was at the timea centre-left coalition led by Giuliano Amato. In 2000, Amato was the fourth Prime Minister (PM) during the 1996 legislature. The political instability at that time and the frequent change of governments was the result of the narrow government majority in the 1996 elections. The electoral results saw the centre-left coalition winning the election with 43.39 percent of votes and the opposition led by Berlusconi obtaining 42.07 percent of votes6. The third major party at that time, the Northern League, obtained 10.07 percent of the votes. The narrow majority obtained by the centre-left coalition called ‘L’Ulivo’ caused great instability in the parliament. From 1996 to 2001 the country experienced four governments due to the absence of a solid majority. This political scenario required an open dialogue and negotiations with the opposition to see through the passage of the legislation. This political situation favoured Berlusconi’s coalition which was able to negotiate with the government at the time. Some of the requests supported by the opposition parties were voted and passed in parliament. In this context, Tremaglia saw an opportunity to promote the expatriate voting policy. Negotiations with the centre-left parties started in 1994. Despite the first rejection, the political instability and the

6 Electoral results for the 1996 elections are available on the Electoral Historical Archive http://elezionistorico.interno.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=21/04/1996&tpa=I&tpe=A&lev0=0&levsut0 =0&es0=S&ms=S

77 dialogue between left and right coalitions served the purpose of the MP to bring the expatriate voting policy back to the negotiation table. At the same time, Tremaglia was able to promote the expatriate voting policy in parliament thanks to the crucial role of his party within the centre-right coalition. As the elections were approaching Berlusconi knew that the centre-right coalition had the opportunity to win. However, in order to win, Berlusconi needed the support of all parties within the centre-right coalition, including Tremaglia’s Alleanza Nazionale (AN). Supporting Tremaglia’s expatriate voting legislation guaranteed Berlusconi the strong coalition he needed to win. As the 2001 electoral results demonstrate, Berlusconi’s strategy was successful and his coalition won the election with the support and inclusion of Alleanza Nazionale. The price for victory was the unconditional support of Tremaglia’s proposal for the expatriate voting policy. The constitutional amendments were voted with a qualified majority in parliament, achieving the required two third of votes to make constitutional amendments without resorting to an unpredictable constitutional referendum. Only a limited number of MPs and Senators voted against the constitutional changes for the inclusion of the foreign constituency. This included the anti-immigration party led by Umberto Bossi, the Northern League party.7 The Northern League’s opposition however had no bearing on the outcome of the vote in parliament. The final law for the implementation of the expatriate voting policy was voted in December 2001, after Berlusconi’s coalition had won the elections earlier the year, completing the process for the implementation of the vote from abroad.

4.4.7 The Italian Expatriate Vote Law

According to article 48 of the Italian constitution, Italian citizens who resided abroad could cast their vote for the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate and for national referendum within the foreign constituency (art. 75 and 139 Constitution). Law 459/2001 sanctions the procedures applied to elect their representatives in both Houses. Italians who live in the Europe Union countries can also vote for the European elections (Decree Law 408/1994). In order to take part in the elections and elect their

7 Data on the final votes in parliament are available in the following page: http://leg16.camera.it/449?tipo=E

78 own representatives, Italian expatriates have to register on the Registry of the Italian Citizens Residing Abroad (AIRE). Since the presence of Italians was spread worldwide, the foreign constituency in four election districts: Europe, North and Central America, South America and the Africa Asia Oceania and Antarctica district (AAOA). The following figure (Figure 4.1) shows the maps of the world and the districts in the Italian foreign constituency.

Figure 4.1: The Italian foreign constituency

Source: Mascitelli & Battiston 2008

In each district Italian citizens residing permanently overseas could elect a number of representatives in proportion to the number of Italians living in that specific district. Italian voters could express more preferences based on the number of seats allocated to the district in which they live. In Europe voters elect five Deputies and two senators, in North and Central America two Deputies and one senator, in South America four Deputies and two senators, in AAOA one Deputy and one senator. The seats either in the Chamber of Deputies or in the Senate are assigned following the proportional representation voting system with personal preferential vote among party lists (D’Alimonte & Chiaramonte 2007). This system, however, becomes a single-member constituency method in the district where only one Deputy and senator can be elected (the AAOA district). The total seats allocated to the representatives of Italians living abroad are twelve in the Chamber of Deputies and six in the Senate.

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Compared to the overall number of Deputies and senators in both Houses (630 Deputies and 315 senators), the weight of the expatriate votes does not seem to be crucial. The overall number of 18 representatives of Italians abroad in parliament is a very small number compared to the overall number of seats. However, with the implementation of the new electoral law in 2005, the role of representatives of Italian expatriates in parliament became important to safeguard the majority in parliament. At the same time, it should be remembered that in the foreign constituency the method used to elect the representatives is different from the electoral system used in domestic districts creating a greater deal of confusion in the legislation. While the Italian electoral law is not the focus of this research, the electoral system in use has had consequences in this analysis of seat allocation in the domestic electoral system and the foreign constituency. The conflict between the two systems to assign seats in parliament caused negative outcomes of the elections Italy. For this reason, it is important to understand the difference between the Italian electoral law and the Italian expatriate voting law to understand the evolution of the debate since 2001.

4.4.8 The Italian Electoral Law

The expatriate voting policy was introduced in 2001 and it was built around the electoral system in place at that time. The policy implemented in 1993 and regulating the electoral system in 2001 was dissimilar to the electoral law regulating the electoral system since the first election with the expatriate voting system in 2006. The Italian electoral system was defined as a mixed system, with 75 per cent of seats allocated with the First Past the Post electoral system and 25 per cent using a proportional method. This system provided only one round of voting and it was named Additional Member System. Both Houses used the D'Hondt method to allocate seats8. In 2005 a new electoral law was implemented (n. 270/2005). This law which regulated the electoral system until 2015, was based on the party-list representation and substituted the Additional Member Electoral System. This law envisaged two different methods to assign seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, based on a form of proportional representation with closed party lists. For the Chamber of

8 D’Hont method is a system used to allocate seats in parliament when a party-list proportional representation is in use. This method allows to allocate seats in parliament calculating the proportion of the votes received for every party.

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Deputies, one seat is elected from Aosta Valley and twelve seats are elected from the non- resident Italians living overseas, as above mentioned. Those seats are not considered when the majority bonus (340 seats out of 617) is assigned9. Apart from these exceptions, the law has established 26 constituencies. Each region (20 in Italy) has one constituency except Piedmont, Veneto, Lazio, Campania and Sicily that have two constituencies and Lombardy with three. The rest of the seats in the Parliament are assigned to the opposition parties. A completely different method is used for the Senate. This method has been highly criticised in the literature. According to Pasquino (2007:27), due to a probably incorrect interpretation of the Constitutional article (art. 57) that states that ‘the Senate is elected on a regional basis’, the Casa delle Liberta’ (Berlusconi’s party) improvised and hasty electoral reformers made a fateful decision. In Senate, the allocation of a majority bonus was based on a regional district system with exception of the single- member constituency method used in Aosta Valley, Trentino Alto Adige and the seats allocated to representatives of Italians living abroad. As a result, the majority was assigned on the regional preferences. In every region the winner coalition obtains 55% of the seats. Each Region had a different number of seats (e.g. Lombardy 49, Veneto 24, Tuscany 18, etc.) so the majority percentage varied in each of them. Because of the different methods used for the composition of the Chamber and the Senate, the risk to obtain two different results in the two houses had been one of the main concerns highlighted after the implementation of the law as a possible scenario. The risk in having two different seat allocation methods for the two Houses, together with the expatriate voting policy, caused tensions after the first election with the inclusion of the expatriate voting system in 2006. In the electoral results in 2006, votes from abroad became crucial to determine the majority in parliament. This outcome, mostly caused by the two different electoral systems, reopened the debate about the participation of Italian citizens residing abroad in the domestic election.

4.5 Citizenship law and dual citizenship

9 The Italian electoral law from 2005 to 2015 was based on block list system with a 54-55% seat allocation (majority bonus) for the party that received the majority of votes in the election. This system was chosen to guarantee a working majority in parliament. In this calculation the Aosta Valley region seat and the seats allocated to the representatives of Italian citizens living abroad were excluded.

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The subject of expatriate voting is not solely related to the electoral policies’ debate. The issue of the participation from abroad is also strictly connected to the citizenship subject and the recognition of citizenship rights. According to the Italian Constitution, each Italian citizen is entitled to cast his/her vote with no discrimination in terms of residency. This is a fundamental principle that, over the years, played an important role in the discussion of the political participation from abroad. In order to comprehend the debate about the expatriate voting policy, it is important to understand how Italy recognises the status of citizen and how the country regulates the acquisition of citizenship rights linked to this status. For this reason, the evolution of the citizenship policy will be described to draw attention to the connection between the expatriate voting policy and the citizenship policy.

4.5.1 Citizenship policies in receiving countries

In 1908, during the Congress of Italians abroad, the subject of regulation of the Italian citizenship was recognised as an urgent matter of consideration and in February 1910 a first draft of the policy was submitted by Vittorio Scajola, the Minister of Justice at that time. The urgency to create a policy to regulate the Italian citizenship acquisition together with the acquisition of citizenship rights and the transmission of it came as a response to the implementation of new policies in countries where Italians relocated during the first migration wave. For instance, Brazil was one of the common destinations for Italians at that time. In the aftermath of becoming an independent nation, the Latin American country implemented a policy called “Great Naturalisation”. Since Brazilian independence (15 November 1889), this policy allowed migrants residing in Brazil to obtain the Brazilian citizenship automatically (Rosoli 1986). Migrants could maintain their original citizenship through a personal declaration showing their intent to maintain the citizenship of their country of origin. This policy affected many migrants coming from European countries. Even though European governments tried to obstruct the Brazilian policy, the naturalisation process could not be avoided due to a lack of information about the new Brazilian policy among migrants. Consequentially, many Europeans lost the citizenship of their country of origin. The situation European countries had to face was mostly caused by the divergent approach to the citizenship discipline. While European countries were mostly

82 implementing citizenship policies based on the ius sanguinis principle, the new American countries implemented citizenship policies based on ius soli principle. These different approaches can be explained in light of the different ideas countries had for the composition of their demos. While hosting countries wanted to integrate new citizens in country of residency, Italian policy makers, at that time, refused to lose connections with their migrants located around the world. For sending countries like Italy, maintaining citizenship connections could have only been done with the implementation of citizenship policies based on the ius sanguinis principle (Pastore 2004).

4.5.2 The reaffirmation of the ius sanguinis principle

Policy makers started to be concerned about the loss of Italian citizenship of many Italian migrants either from a legal or from a cultural perspective. They worried that the loss of Italian citizenship could cause disaffection towards the country of origin among migrants. Moreover, policy makers realised the important role communities abroad could have played at international level for such a young and vulnerable nation and Italy was in those years. As a result, law 555/1912 was implemented based on two pillars: 1- Italian citizenship was transferred following the ius sanguinis principle (already included in the Civil Code of 1865) and Italians could lose their citizenship only through a voluntary request; 2- Italian citizenship could be reacquired. In this law, the issue of the dual citizenship status was solved only partially. A solution was found, allowing minors to opt for dual citizenship until their 18th birthday. After that they had to choose which one of the two citizenships they wanted to keep. This law implemented by the Italian institutions was later criticised as too protective in the “preservation and recovery of Italian nationality” (Quadri 1959). During the Second World War Italy again had to face issues caused by incompatibility between the Italian policy and the hosting countries’ policies. While Italy embraced the ius sanguinis principle, the majority of the hosting countries were following the ius soli principle. Italy decided to solve this new issue signing bilateral agreements with receiving countries such as Argentina (law 282/1973). These bilateral agreements aimed to solve the issue of conflicting policies. Despite the difficulties encountered over the years caused by the number of Italians relocating overseas, the citizenship law survived almost a century.

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It should be mentioned that some minor changes were introduced during Fascism but these changes did not affect the main principles of the policy. In 1926, law n. 108 was introduced to revoke Italian citizenship to Italian citizens abroad that acted against the interest of Fascism. In the same year Mussolini introduced another law to facilitate the reacquisition of the Italian citizenship for those Italians who renounced it in favour of an overseas citizenship (Clerici 1993). In 1935, another change was made to the citizenship law to allow the government to grant the Italian citizenship at their discretion. When the Italian constitution was drafted after the Second World War, citizenship was not considered a subject to be regulated specifically within the constitution and the constitutional Committee agreed the subject could be addressed through an ordinary law by the Parliament (Clerici 1993). Even though the main text of the law did not change, some principles included in the new Constitution forced the implementation of a new policy to redefine the acquisition and transmission of Italian citizenship. Recognition of gender equality was a result of the introduction in the Italian Constitution in 1948 of Art. 3. The Constitution states there must not be any discrimination based on race, language, religious, political, social and gender reasons. Following this article, in 1975 the Constitutional Court judged citizenship law 555/1912 as unconstitutional. As a consequence, since 1975, Italian women could keep their own citizenship even though they were married to men with other nationalities (Bussotti 2002). In 1983 another policy was implemented, allowing women to transmit their Italian citizenship to their children. This new policy raised once again the problem of dual citizenship, especially in relation to the problem of children with parents with different citizenships (Bussotti 2002). During the Second National Conference on Emigration in 1988, the citizenship policy occupied part of the debate among policy makers, in relation to the implementation of the expatriate voting policy. In discussing the content of the citizenship law, Carretti noted that law 555/1912 was not taking into account different categories of Italians, especially those Italians born abroad who, according to the academic, should be entitled to dual citizenship (Seminario e Tavola Rotonda 1988). The debate on the inclusion of Italian migrants in the electoral system from abroad helped to open a discussion about the citizenship policy that was reformed some years later in 1992.

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4.5.3 The law 92/1992 and the inclusion of dual citizenship

Law 91/1992, currently regulating the subject of Italian citizenship, maintained the principle of ius sanguinis as the main principle for the acquisition and transmission of the Italian citizenship. The issue of dual citizenship was finally solved, allowing Italian citizens to keep dual or multiple nationalities. At the same time, the policy offers many opportunities for Italian descendants to reacquire Italian citizenship. The necessity of reviewing the law was a consequence of the necessity to conform the citizenship law to constitution principles implemented in 1948. This reform was also influenced by the political pressure of the Italian communities overseas (Bussotti 2002). With this reform, Italian citizens abroad could transmit the Italian citizenship to direct, blood related, family members with no limit in the ancestry line. The transmission of Italian citizenship became an issue when the expatriate voting policy was implemented. The most debated aspect of the citizenship policy was that Italian descendants can inherit citizenship rights, including political rights. The question whether Italian descendants should inherit full citizenship rights has become one of the crucial questions in the expatriate voting debate and the issue is central to this study.

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4.6 Conclusion

This chapter has discussed the history of Italian migration and the history of the debate on expatriate voting in the Italian parliament. This chapter has drawn attention to implication of migration in the Italian social fabric. Moreover, this chapter has highlighted the impact of migration issues in the political debate and the need raised by some policy makers to reconnect with the transnational communities. Despite the difficulties in accepting the political inclusion of emigrants in the life of the country of origin, policy makers eventually voted in favour of the creation of a specifically-made representation of Italian emigrants in parliament, changing the role of the transnational community in the political life of the home country. This chapter also highlighted the importance of discussing the expatriate voting policy in light of citizenship regulation. The definition of citizenship and the method for the acquisition of citizenship rights are crucial in the expatriate voting debate and for this reason, citizenship policies and the related issues need to be addressed in this context.

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CHAPTER 5

Electoral participation in the foreign constituency and the response of political parties

5.1 Introduction

This chapter is the first of three chapters which contains the analysis of data gathered in this research. More specifically, this chapter incorporates the analysis of the secondary data on electoral participation and electoral results from abroad, and the document analysis conducted on the law proposals submitted by political parties to review the current expatriate voting policy. The analysis of data on electoral participation from abroad and the document analysis are strictly related and, for this reason, the analysis of this data was included in the same chapter. Political parties started to submit proposals to review the existing policy after the first election in 2006 which involved expatriate voting. Ever since, the impact of electoral results played a crucial role in the content of the proposal submitted by MPs and Senators in reviewing the expatriate voting law. The first part of the chapter includes the analysis of secondary data provided by the Italian Ministry of the Interior on the electoral results electoral participation in the foreign constituency since 2006. Since the implementation of the expatriate voting policy, Italy has held elections in 2006, 2008 and 2013 and six referenda10 with the participation of Italian citizens living outside Italian borders. Due to the amount of data on electoral turnout, this chapter analyses the engagement of Italians living abroad and their political preferences during elections and referenda. This second part of the chapter provides an overview of the issues and difficulties encountered in the implementation of the expatriate voting system. These issues have been identified since the first election in 2006 and have become a matter of discussion among policy makers. In realising the problem generated by the current policies,

10 A seventh referendum is happening while this study is being completed

87 policy makers have started to submit law proposals to review the policy. For this reason, the third part of the chapter includes the document analyses conducted on the law proposals submitted by political parties since 2006. The analysis of the proposals highlights the issues that policy makers have identified in the current policy and what they wish to review. The aim of the document analysis is to understand what the most common concerns of political parties in relation of the expatriate voting system are.

5.2 Electoral results and the impact of the votes from abroad

Even though the expatriate voting policy was officially implemented in 2001, the first election with the participation of Italian citizens from abroad was held in 2006. Since then, Italy has held elections in 2008 and 2013. In the following section, the participation from abroad has been analysed with the support of figures provided by the Italian Ministry of the Interior. Each election has been analysed to understand the political preferences of the Italian transnational communities by looking at each electoral district of the foreign constituency. The impact of votes coming from abroad in the domestic electoral results is also discussed. It should be remembered that, according to Italian legislation, Italians of 18 years of age and older can vote for the Chamber of Deputies but only Italian citizens of 25 years of age or older can vote for the Senate. For this reason, data on participation has been reported for both Houses (the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate). In referenda, all citizens of 18 years of age and older can vote.

5.2.1 The 2006 elections

The implementation of the expatriate voting law 459/2001 generated for the first time awareness of the impact of votes from abroad with the first election in 2006. During the debate on the expatriate voting policy, the issue of the impact of votes coming from overseas was raised only in hypothetical terms. To avoid the circumstance in which the transnational electorate could have a significant impact on the electoral results, policy makers decided to create the foreign constituency and to include it in the Italian Constitution. The policy was designed with the idea that votes from abroad had to merge into the foreign constituency (Rivolta 2014). In doing so,

88 votes of the transnational community would not have had a significant impact on the final electoral results. The fear that votes in the foreign constituency could determine the political future of the country ironically became reality in the 2006 election. In 2006 the centre-left coalition obtained a razor-thin majority in the Senate thanks to the votes of the Italians living abroad. The following tables show the preferences in the foreign constituency in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate in the 2006 election.

Table 5.1 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2006 for the Chamber of Deputies Chamber of Deputies Political Parties/Groups Votes % Seats

L'Unione 421,414 43.39 6 Forza Italia 202,536 20.86 3 Ass.Ital.Sud America 99,817 10.28 1 Per Italia Nel Mondo (Tremaglia) 72,105 7.42 1 Di Pietro Italia Dei Valori 27,432 2.82 1 Total 823,304 84.77 12 Source: Author’s adaptation from the Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior.

Table 5.2 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2006 for the Senate

Senate Political Parties/Groups Votes % Seats

L'Unione 393,357 44.14 4 Forza Italia 186,386 20.92 1 Ass.Ital.Sud America 85,745 9.62 1 Total 665,488 74.68 6 Source: Author’s adaptation from the Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior. Four out of six Senate seats in the foreign constituency were allocated to the centre- left coalition, one to the centre-right coalition and one to an independent senator (Table 5.2). Votes from abroad were politically consistent in both Houses with most of the preferences to the centre-left coalition (L'Unione). The result in the foreign

89 constituency became a key factor in the election outcome. In the 2006 election, votes coming from abroad determined the majority in the Senate. It should be noted, however, that the impact of the foreign constituency in the electoral results was not necessarily a consequence of the expatriate voting policy. The impact of votes from abroad in the elections is a consequence of the electoral system known as “Porcellum” implemented in 2005. Despite the structure of the Italian parliament and the bicameral system, the electoral law implemented in 2005 involved two different electoral systems, one for each House. The new electoral law, however, was not introduced in the foreign constituency which maintained an independent electoral system.11 The electoral law was tested for the first time in 2006 together with the expatriate voting policy, and generated some level of chaos in the allocation of seats to determine the majority in parliament. A majority in parliament could eventually only be reached with the votes coming from abroad. The electoral results of 2006 re-opened the discussion firstly on the electoral law implemented in 2005. One the major concern about the electoral law was the threat of diverging results in the two Houses, making governing the country effectively impossible. Secondly, the electoral results showed the impact of votes coming from abroad on the electoral results. For the first time, policy makers realised the importance the transnational community had indirectly gained in the Italian electoral process. For a better understanding of the 2006 election results, the following table (Table 5.3) provides figures about the electoral results in the Senate including votes coming from Italy and from abroad. The centre-left Union coalition (Unione) obtained the majority of the seats as a result of two elements: votes coming from abroad (44.15 per cent of voters preferred the centre-left party) and from the support from the minor parties. Despite the very narrow result with 159 seats obtained by the Union and 156 by Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition, Unione won the elections. Table 5.3 includes the seats allocated to the representatives of the independent regions. According to the electoral law, the regions of Valle d’Aosta and Trentino Alto Adige vote with a different method to guarantee the representation of linguistic minorities and their

11 The electoral system in use in the foreign constituency is a proportional system that follows the largest remainder method (Hare-Niemeyer method).

90 results appear under the voice of “Independent Regions”. Table 5.3 does not include the preferences expressed by the life-members of the Senate.12

Table 5.3 Total preferences and seats allocation in the Senate in 2006 elections Senate UNIONE FORZA ITALIA OTHERS

% Seats % Seats % Seats Italy 49.96 148 50.22 153

Independent Regions(a) 30.91 3 27.5 2 23.18 3

Foreign Constituency 44.14 4 20.92 1 9.92 1 Total 155 156 4

(a) Valle d’Aosta, Trentino Alto Adige. Source: author’s adaptation from the Historical Archive of Elections (2006)

The first election with the inclusion of the expatriate voting system showed for the first time the problems in achieving a majority in both Houses caused by the electoral law. Moreover, policy makers also realised that Italian citizens living abroad could become a game changer in the electoral results. Due to the very narrow majority in the Senate, the government did not last long and two years later new elections were held. The 2006 experience has become a unique experience in the history of Italian elections, creating concerns among political parties and Italian institutions. Even though in the following election in 2008, results were less controversial, the political debate on the inclusion of the foreign constituency did not stop. Policy makers saw in the 2006 electoral outcomes a development that could potentially occur in future elections. For this reason, policy makers introducing measures to avoid another situation in which Italians abroad could determine the future of the country in which they do not live. For this reason, policy makers started to reconsider the expatriate voting policy and the role of the emigrant community.

12 Life-member Senators are former Presidents of the Republic and members nominated by the President of the Republic. For this reason, the number can vary.

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5.2.2 The 2008 elections

The 2008 electoral results did not produce the same controversial results as in the elections in 2006. The domestic electorate was able to achieve a majority in parliament. As a result, votes from abroad did not play a major role in the electoral results of the country. In 2008, the right wing coalition led by Berlusconi won the election with a large majority in both houses. Votes coming from the domestic electoral districts assigned 340 seats to Berlusconi’s coalition and 239 seats to the centre-left coalition led by the Democratic Party (PD) in the Chamber of Deputies. In the Senate, the right wing coalition reached 168 seats while PD and the left wing coalition only gained 130 (Historical Archive of Elections 2016). The remaining seats in both Houses were assigned to minor parties. Even though votes in the foreign constituency did not have an impact in the final electoral outcome, the results within the foreign constituency are nonetheless interesting in terms of preferences. As it is possible to see in tables 5.4 and 5.5, Italians abroad gave most of their votes to the centre left party in the Chamber of Deputies while in the Senate, Berlusconi’s coalition was less successful winning three seats out of six.

Table 5.4 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2008 for the Chamber of Deputies Chamber of Deputies Lists/Groups Votes % Seats Partito Democratico 338,957 32.48 6 Il Popolo Delle Liberta' 322,437 30.9 4 Mov.Associativo Italiani All'estero 86,870 8.33 1 Di Pietro Italia Dei Valori 42,149 4.04 1 Total 790,413 75.75 12 Source: Author’s adaptation from Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior.

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Table 5.5 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2008 for the Senate

Senate Lists/Groups Votes % Seats Il Popolo Delle Liberta' 322,698 33.86 3 Partito Democratico 314,703 33.02 2 Mov.Associativo Italiani all' Estero 75,511 7.61 1 Total 712,912 74.49 6 Source: Author’s adaptation Electoral Historical Archive, Ministry of the Interior

The results in the foreign constituency, especially in the Chamber of Deputies, highlight the issue of political preferences of the transnational community. The electoral outcomes of the transnational community show that Italians abroad do not necessarily share political preferences with Italians in Italy. In the Chamber of Deputies, Italians abroad gave the majority of votes to the centre-left party while in Italy, Berlusconi and his coalition won the majority of seats. The divergent political results have certainly drawn the attention to the political preferences of the transnational community. This issue has to be considered by political parties especially when running their political campaigns abroad. It should be noted, however, that the electorate abroad can be also affected by local political influences. The political debate in migrants’ new countries of residency can influence political preferences when migrants are called to cast their vote for their country of origin. This has been proved by the electoral results in the Europe district of the Italian foreign constituency in the 2013 elections. Despite the fact that votes coming from overseas did not have a significant impact in the electoral results in 2008, policy makers still appeared to be very concerned about the political nature and efficiency of the expatriate voting system. This concern finds empirical evidence in the number of proposals submitted by political parties after the 2008 elections which will be analysed later in the chapter.

5.2.3 The 2013 elections

While in the 2008 election votes of Italians abroad did not play a major role in the electoral outcomes, the elections in 2013 highlighted again the role of the Italian transnational community in the elections. The elections in February 2013 highlighted

93 the divergent political outcomes between results in Italy and results in the foreign constituency. While voters in Italy did not express an absolute majority but spread their votes amongst the major parties PD, PDL and Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S in both the Chamber (PD 29.54 per cent, PdL 29.18 per cent, M5S 25.55 per cent) or in the Senate (PD 31.63 per cent, PdL 30.71 per cent, M5S 23.75 per cent), Italians abroad expressed their vote in a more unified way. Three districts out of four supported PD (almost 30 per cent in both Houses) with the exception of South America. In this district the electorate supported the local party that represents the interests of Italians living abroad Movimento Associativo Italiani all’Estero (Associative Movement of Italians Abroad). The diverging results between voters inside and outside Italy, however, are not the only factors to consider in the analysis of the results registered abroad. By looking at each district, what emerged is that the former Prime Minister (PM) Mario Monti was more successful abroad than in Italy: 18.39 per cent in the Chamber and 19.81 per cent in the Senate of the voters in the foreign constituency chose his party. In Italy the party of the former PM barely obtained 10 per cent of the preferences in each House. Monti’s popularity abroad, especially in Europe, can certainly be explained by the support he gained among EU leaders. Monti is a renowned economist in the EU and from 1995 until 2004 he was a EU commissioner for Internal Market, Services, Customs, Taxation and Competition. He was well respected by other world leaders within the European Union who appreciated his economic and financial program during his mandate as Prime Minister. In the European district Mario Monti obtained the 29.69 per cent of preferences in the Senate and the 18.38% in the Chamber overstepping Berlusconi’s coalition PdL and the Five Stars Movement (M5S). Another important phenomenon that characterised the 2013 elections is the presence of the recently formed Five Star Movement. This political movement achieved popularity in Italy, gaining over 20 per cent of preferences in Italy. Even though the Five Stars Movement is less popular abroad, one representative of the Movement was able to win a seat in the European district. This result also demonstrated the popularity of the movement among Italian citizens in the European electoral colleges.

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It is also important to analyse the electoral result achieved by Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition. While in the 2008 elections Berlusconi’s the Popolo delle Libera’ (PdL) received three seats in the Senate with the 33.85 per cent of preferences, PdL only reached 15.18 per cent of the preferences in 2013. This figure shows a decrease in popularity of Berlusconi and his party abroad. Tables 5.6 and table 5.7 summarise the electoral results in the foreign constituency for the Chamber of Deputies and for the Senate in 2013.

Table 5.6 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2013 for the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies

LISTS VOTES % SEATS

Partito Democratico 288,092 29.32 5

Con Monti Per L'italia 180,674 1839 2

Il Popolo Della Liberta' 145,824 14.84 1

Mov.Associativo Italiani All'estero 140,473 14.30 2 Movimento 5 Stelle 95,041 9.67 1 Source: Author’s adaptation Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior

Table 5.7 Electoral results in the foreign constituency in 2013 for the Senate Senate LISTS VOTES % SEATS Partito Democratico 274,732 30.69 4 Con Monti Per L'italia 177,402 19.81 1 Il Popolo Della Liberta' 136,052 15.19 - Mov.Associativo Italiani all' Estero 120,29 13.43 1 Source: Author’s adaptation Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior

After three elections, some conclusions can be drawn based on the voting preferences of the Italian community voting in the foreign constituency. There is evidence that political preferences abroad do not necessarily reflect the same electoral voting patterns of Italians in Italy. Italians living abroad seem to make different

95 political choices compared to domestic districts since the transnational community can be influenced by the political context of their hosting countries. The involvement of Italian migrants in the domestic electoral system has certainly had an impact in the electoral outcomes, especially the first election in 2006, raising awareness among political parties about the preferences of Italians abroad. The electoral results have also influenced the perception of Italian policy makers on the participation from abroad. Electoral participation of Italian citizens living permanently abroad has become a controversial topic after the elections in 2006 and the debate has not stopped since. Despite the low impact of votes coming from abroad in the electoral results in the past two elections, policy makers have continued their discussion on the political engagement and preferences of Italians abroad. Political preferences have definitely played a major role in the support or rejection of the expatriate voting policy. Electoral participation from abroad and electoral turnout have also widely occupied the political debate on expatriate voting. Turnout has become a major element of discussion in relation to the legitimacy and sustainability of the expatriate voting system. In the following section, electoral turnout for each election will be investigated to understand why the expatriate voting system has been highly criticised by some policy makers in regard to turnout during elections.

5.3 Electoral participation from abroad

The debate on the engagement of the Italian transnational community has become a concern among policy makers as a result of the growing presence of Italian citizens relocating permanently or temporarily abroad. The overseas electorate, however, includes only Italians permanently abroad. Table 5.8 shows the increasing number of Italians permanently relocating abroad since 2005. This data is provided by the Ministry of the Interior based on the AIRE registry.

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Table 5.8 Registry of Italians residing abroad

2005 3,545,645 2006 3,582,214 2007 3,778,744 2008 3,931,881 2009 4,024,478 2010 4,135,633 2011 4,216,041 2012 4,408,640 2013 4,482,115 2014 4,636,647 Source: Author’s adaptations of data provided by the Ministry of the Interior from 2005 to 2014

Italian citizens registered at the AIRE have reached more than 4,6 million in 2014, proving the existence of the phenomenon of a new wave of Italian migration. These numbers have also affected the electoral system from abroad. In the following sections, the participation from abroad during the elections will be analysed with the support of data provided by the Ministry of the Interior and the Italian Historical Archive of Elections. It should be remembered, however, that the increasing number of Italian citizens living abroad is also the result of the phenomenon of acquisition by Italian descents as previously illustrated.

5.3.1 Electoral turnout in elections from the Foreign Constituency

Since the implementation of expatriate voting policy, Italy has held three elections with the participation of Italian citizens living abroad. The turnout during elections sits around 35 per cent of the electorate according to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior show. The following tables provide data on turnout in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in the three elections (2006, 2008 and 2013).

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Table 5.9 Participation in the foreign constituency in the 2006, 2008 and 2013 elections in the Chamber of Deputies Chamber of Deputies Electorate Voters % 2006 2,707,382 1,053,864 38.93 2008 2,924,178 1,155,411 39.51 2013 3,494,687 1,103,989 31.59 Source: Author’s adaptation of data provided by the Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior

Table 5.10 Participation in the foreign constituency in the 2006, 2008 and 2013 elections in the Senate Senate Electorate Voters % 2006 2,432,340 962,107 39.55 2008 2,627,832 1,059,625 40.32 2013 3,149,501 1,009,921 32.07 Source: Author’s adaptation of data provided by the Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior

These figures highlight two aspects of relevance in the debate on the expatriate voting system. Firstly, the electorate in the foreign constituency has been increasing over the years as a consequence of the new migration wave and the registration of Italians on the AIRE registry. Secondly, the percentage of Italians voting from abroad has significantly decreased in 2013 despite the increasing number of Italians relocating in foreign countries. In general, data provided by the Ministry of the Interior show a fluctuating yet decreasing number of Italian citizens engaging in the homeland elections. More significant is the analysis of electoral turnout in each district of the foreign constituency. The following tables 5.11 and 5.12 show the percentage of turnout in each district of the foreign constituency. These tables include turnout in 2006, 2008 and 2013 in the four districts for the Chamber of Deputies and for the Senate. As previously discussed, due to different electoral regulations for the elections of MPs and Senators, data are different in the two houses and for these reasons need be reported.

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Table 5.11 Turnout per electoral year in each district of the foreign constituency in the Chamber of Deputies ELECTORAL DISTRICTS (Chamber Of Deputies) 2006 2008 2013 Europe 36.04% 35.41% 27.21% North And Central America 34.70% 34.75% 29.33% South America 47.06% 49.47% 34.20% Africa Asia Oceania Antarctica 39.85% 37.91% 30.01% TOTAL 39.93% 39.51% 29.72% Source: Author’s adaptation from data provided by the Ministry of the Interior (2006, 2008, 2013)

Table 5.12 Turnout per electoral year in each district of the foreign constituency in the Senate ELECTORAL DISTRICTS (Senate) 2006 2008 2013 Europe 37.08% 36.18% 27.89% North And Central America 35.00% 35.21% 29.41% South America 46.96% 50.46% 33.94% Africa Asia Oceania Antarctica 40.32% 39.38% 30.37% TOTAL 39.55% 40.32% 30.06%

Source: Author’s adaptation from data provided by the Ministry of the Interior (2006, 2008, 2013)

A number of conclusions can be drawn from looking at the turnout in the foreign constituency. Firstly, the electoral participation in the foreign constituency during the first election was well received with almost 40 per cent of Italians abroad voting in both Houses. Two years later, in 2008, the turnout in the foreign constituency confirmed the level of engagement of Italians living permanently with more then 40 percent of Italians voting for the Senate and more than 39 percent voting for the Chamber of Deputies. The increased electoral participation from overseas was mostly due to the high turnout in South America where participation reached almost 50 percent of the entire electorate in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

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The explanation for this high level of engagement in the election is located in the much older levels of Italian migration. South American countries have the highest number of Italian citizens living abroad as a result of historical migration waves in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Moreover, Italian descendent South Americans have seen the rise of strong political parties and organisations embedded in South America. One of these parties includes the MAIE (Movimento Associativo Italiani all’ Estero). The South America district was, however, the only district in which the participation significantly increased. In Europe and the Asia Africa Oceania and Antarctica (AAOA) district, the participation started to decrease while in North and Central America participation registered was similar to the previous election. In the 2013 elections, participation decreased in all districts with an overall 30.06 per cent of participation in the Senate and 29.72 per cent in the Chamber of Deputies. Compared to the 2006 election, the foreign constituency registered decreasing interest of 10 per cent in both Houses. The most significant decrease in participation was registered in the South America district, the district that saw the highest participation in the previous two elections. However, the level of disengagement in 2013 has been registered in four districts, with Europe and North and Central America districts reaching respectively 27 percent and 29 percent of turnout. The 2013 elections have certainly demonstrated a general disaffection amongst Italians living abroad. Even though decreasing engagement of voters has also been noticed in Italian domestic districts (CISE 2013), the decline in interest in the foreign constituency has raised some concerns about the political engagement of expatriate Italians, especially in the areas with the highest presence of Italian citizens living abroad.

5.3.2 Participation in the Referenda13

Italian citizens residing abroad can cast their vote for elections as well as referenda. Since 2001 Italy has held six referenda in which Italians residing permanently abroad could cast their vote. The referenda held by Italy since 2001 have had different themes: plebiscites, advisory referenda and constitutional referenda. In 2005, 2009, 2011 and

13 In this study, the word referendum includes both meaning of referendum and plebiscite. This choice was made by the author following its use in Italian.

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2016 Italy held plebiscites. In 2003 the referendum was an advisory referendum while in 2006 Italians voted for a constitutional referendum. Each referendum included a minimum of one question and a maximum of four questions. Due to the different nature and structures of the referendum Table 5.13 shows the average number of voters and the percentage of turnouts. Since 2001 only one referendum had one question. In this case, data in Table 5.13 shows on the exact percentage provided by the Ministry of the Interior. According to the data provided by the Ministry of the Interior, the participation from abroad for referenda has been registered around 20-23 per cent with a peak of 27 per cent in 2006. It should be highlighted, however, that the first election with the inclusion of the foreign constituency was also held in the same year. The 2006 elections abroad were widely promoted and participation in the election was strongly encouraged. The election certainly helped to increase the participation for the referendum in that year. Another important aspect to highlight is the increasing number of Italian citizens eligible to cast their vote from abroad. From 2003 to 2011 the number of Italians residing permanently abroad has increased by a million citizens. Data demonstrates how the new migration waves previously described have affected the number of Italian citizens residing outside the Italian borders. Another factor to consider is the increasing number of the overseas electorate. The figure provided by the Ministry of the Interior also demonstrates the interest by some Italians to take part in the political life of the country of origin. Despite the increased numbers in the overseas electorate, participation has not increased. Table 5.13 provides figures on the electorate and the participation in each referendum since the implementation of the expatriate voting system.

Table 5.13 Turnout from abroad in referenda14 Participation in the Referenda Electorate Questions Voters(a) % 2003 2,358,807 2 ~543,000 23.01 2005 2,727,531 4 ~545,000 20.03

14 The 4th of December 2016 a constitutional referendum was held to reform the Italian Constitution. Due to the completion of this research, data on this referendum have not been included.

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2006 2,651,730 1 739,133(b) 27.87 2009 3,065.23 3 ~637,000 20.70 2011 3,300,496 4 ~762,000 23.09 2016 3,951,448 1 779,548(b) 19.73 Source: Author’s adaptation from data provided by the Ministry of the Interior (2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2016). (a) Each question had a different number of voters. Average number of voters provided for each referendum. (b) The official number of voters is provided since the referendum had only one question.

Data provided by the Ministry of the Interior show a decreasing participation from abroad during the referenda. The last consultation in early 2016 provides a concerning low figure of 19.73 per cent of expatriates engaging in the referendum. A last but important aspect worthy of consideration is the importance of the participation from abroad in relation to the electoral quorum. In the Italian electoral system, plebiscites, for instance, can only pass if an absolute majority is reached (50 per cent plus one of the electorate). Italians residing abroad are also included in the quorum and their participation can potentially have an impact in the outcome of referenda.

5.4 Difficulties in the implementation of the expatriate voting system

The decreasing participation in the 2013 elections is only one of numerous factors that have been fostering the debate on the expatriate voting policy and the participation from abroad. Since the first referendum in 2003, the expatriate voting system has thrown up numerous issues in relation to the voting procedures. For instance, voting by correspondence has caused many voting irregularities. These irregularities in the voting process forced MPs and Senators to find ways to improve the voting system through the proposals submitted for the revision of the policy. Moreover, after the first election, policy makers realised that important aspects in the involvement of the transnational community in the voting process had been left out when the policy was approved. In the following sections, the most controversial issues that have affected the expatriate voting policy will be discussed.

5.4.1 The voting by correspondence system

Despite concerns raised by some policy makers at that time of the implementation of the policy, Italy decided to adopt the system of voting by correspondence as the

102 method to be used by Italians living abroad to cast their vote. This system was preferred to the in person voting system in embassies and consulates in order to offer as many Italian citizens abroad as possible the opportunity to cast their vote without travelling to the nearest Italian representative offices. Since 2003, when the first referendum was held with the participation of Italians abroad, Italian citizens who relocated overseas started to received ballot papers by mail. Soon after the first election, Italian institutions came to the realisation that there were difficulties in the implementation of this voting system. For instance, casting votes by correspondence does not guarantee the legal personality nor the secrecy of the vote, fundamental principles in the Italian voting procedures. After reports emerged about electoral fraud in the voting system, voting by correspondence became a controversial issue that policy makers started to discuss. Since the first election in 2006, electoral fraud in the foreign constituencies has become a matter of interest especially to the Italian media. For instance, illegalities in the voting process were reported in the AAOA (Africa, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica) district. According to La Repubblica newspaper, in a garage in Sydney, a local journalist reported the presence of numerous pre-filled ballots ready to be used and sent to Italy where ballots are counted (Manfredi 2006). The scandal in the voting process forced policy makers to reconsider the policy, suggesting changes in favour of a more secure method. The cases of reported electoral fraud in Sydney was not an isolated experience. Many inconsistencies in the voting ballots were reported in other districts of the foreign constituency. According to the electoral system in the foreign constituency, ballots are sent and counted in Rome where a special commission is responsible for the vote counting. According to the president of the central office of the foreign constituency Claudio Fancelli, illegalities have been also reported from South America and Europe (S.1710 leg XVI). Fancelli was one of many officers that supported a revision of the voting system from abroad, recognising the difficulties in providing a fair voting system using the system of voting by correspondence. Electoral fraud was not only experienced in the 2006 elections. Similar cases were also reported in the 2008 and 2013 elections (Striscia la notizia 2008, Striscia la notizia 2013). The Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano has also reported the testimonies of other officers concerned about the current system. After the vote counting for the foreign

103 constituency in Rome in 2013, Luciano Neri, the Consulta Italiani nel Mondo Manager for PD, expressed concerns with this method used to cast votes. According to the officer, voting by correspondence appears to be risky and allows criminal organisations to control votes from abroad such as the ‘Ndrangheta in Europe or in Venezuela. According to Neri, more than 100 ballot papers sent from the same district had the same hand writing (Gelazzi 2013). However, the electoral ballots could not be annulled because the evidence was not considered as being sufficient. These events have demonstrated that voting by correspondence should be considered an unsecure method. However, due to the difficulties in reaching Italian citizens, especially in those countries where post offices and mailing systems are not efficient, voting by correspondence does not provide any guarantees on the efficiency of the vote. Reaching Italians in remote areas appears to be difficult and expensive at the same time. Lastly, policy makers had to face the problem of the recollection of unused ballots. Ballots are delivered globally without being able to be tracked or recalled if not used. These issues have been identified as one of the crucial issues of the voting by correspondence system and MPs and Senators have been discussing over the years for a revision of the policy.

5.4.2 Registration on the AIRE registry

The current expatriate voting system has also been criticised because of the inconsistency between the AIRE, managed by the Ministry of the Interior, and the registry in consulates and embassies managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The shared competences between the two Ministries in managing the census and the voting process abroad have created great confusion. Due to the problems caused by the numerous inconsistencies, in 2007 the Minister of the Interior at that time, Giuliano Amato, together with the Ministry of the Public Administration Luigi Nicolais, tried to create a unified database to overcome the issue of the inconsistencies among the electoral lists in the foreign constituency. Despite the improvement of the system, the census and the maintenance of the registry, difficulties in registering Italian citizens in the foreign constituency are still being reported. It should also be highlighted that, there are some controversies in relation to the AIRE registration and, for this reason, many Italians decide not to register with it. Such as the loss of the public health insurance and the payment of more taxes if they

104 own property in Italy. However, there has been no action taken by political parties to change the current system. It should be also noted that the decision taken by many Italians not to register creates significant difficulties to provide an accurate census that can offer a realistic picture of the Italians abroad. This issue will be further discussed in the following chapters.

5.4.3 Passive electorate and the representatives of Italians abroad

The expatriate voting policy has come under the spotlight not only in relation to ballot irregularities but also because of the controversial candidacy of some representatives of Italians abroad. Irregularities have been reported in the candidature of some MPs and Senators elected in the foreign constituency. Some of these MPs and Senators have been charged with electoral fraud and political corruption, trading of votes and for activities related to mafia infiltration in politics. Due to these unfortunate events and lack of electoral transparency, the foreign constituency has again been strongly criticised by policy makers. The case of Di Girolamo hit the headlines highlighting all the problems of the expatriate voting system. Di Girolamo tried to manipulate the election results to obtain a majority of votes with the support of members of organised crime. He won the seat in the Senate for the centre right coalition Popolo delle Libera’ (PdL) in the Europe district in the 2008 election. After winning the election, it was discovered that he was not eligible to run as a candidate in the European district because his residency was not in Belgium. One of the criteria to be eligible to run as a candidate in the foreign constituency is that residency must be in another country. After judicial investigation, it was reported that Di Girolamo had moved his residency to Belgium a couple of months before the elections so that he could be elected in the foreign constituency (Cottone 2013). A pre-trial detention order was issued on June 7th 2008 however, the MP resigned as senator in 2010 when he was accused and sentenced for his involvement with the ‘Ndrangheta mafia activity. The case of Di Girolamo is not an isolated one, but part of the alleged connection between Mafia and Berlusconi’s coalition. These events have severely affected the credibility of the expatriate voting system and the interests of Italians abroad. Another politician who built his career in the promotion of political engagement of Italian migrants was also involved in the vote exchange. Sergio De Gregorio started

105 his political career in 2000. He was the founder of the association Italiani nel Mondo (Italians in the World). This association aimed to promote the image of Italy worldwide. In 2006 this association became a political party and, in the same year, De Gregorio was elected to the Senate with the party Italia dei Valori (IdV). At that time, the party joined the centre left wing coalition. De Gregorio’s name is also well-known because of his decision to support the centre-right coalition (PdL) and to vote against the centre-left coalition, the coalition he was elected for his seat in the Senate. Even though the Italian parliamentary system is not based on imperative mandates, allowing MPs and Senators to change party groupings during their mandate, many rumours circulated about De Gregorio’s decision to support Berlusconi’s party, leaving the party group in which he was elected. In March 2013 De Gregorio declared during an interview that Silvio Berlusconi bought his vote paying three million of Euros in order to sabotage the centre-left government at that time (Del Porto & Sannino 2013). Due to these personalities elected in the foreign constituency, the expatriate voting system has been labelled inefficient and unsafe, fostering the already existing discontent of many policy makers towards this system.

5.4.4 Italians temporarily abroad

The final issue political parties started to draw attention to over time is the political participation of Italian citizens temporarily living abroad. The expatriate voting policy focuses on the participation in the political elections of Italians who have been residing abroad for at least twelve months. This criterion was based on the fact that only Italians residing abroad for more than twelve months can register with the AIRE. For this reason, Italians who live outside Italy for less than twelve months were not allowed to cast their vote from abroad. The issue of the participation of Italians temporarily abroad became a matter of debate before the 2013 elections. Political parties realised that citizens have increasingly relocated abroad for work or study and their votes have been lost for many years. Protests occurred by groups of students who relocated abroad with short term study program such as the Erasmus program promoted by the European Union. According to Italian law, Italian citizens temporarily abroad could only cast their vote by returning to their local electoral district. Italy established a policy that facilitated

106 the vote of Italian descendants and long term migrants and did not consider to involve citizens temporarily abroad in the electoral process. Policy makers were forced to address this matter also in light of the new migration wave. In 2015 the Italian parliament voted a new electoral law that also considered the inclusions of Italians temporarily abroad in the elections. Based on the new electoral policy Italians temporarily abroad are entitled to cast their vote from abroad if they reside outside Italy for at least three months.15 Votes coming from abroad, however, will merge into the foreign constituency and not into their domestic district. This result did not satisfy many policy makers since they preferred votes of Italians temporarily abroad to merge into their domestic districts. This modified system has not yet been tested during elections since Italy has not held elections over the last year but Italians temporarily abroad had the possibility to cast their votes for the first time for the plebiscite held in February 2015.

5.5 Document analysis of law proposals

The electoral results, the impact of votes coming from abroad and the difficulties caused by the current policy have generated a great deal of concern among policy makers. While a very timid discussion started among some members of the Italian institutions in regards to the legitimacy of the electoral participation of transnational communities, political parties have mostly focused on the technicalities of the voting system in the foreign constituency. Since 2006 political parties have mostly focused their attention on the expatriate voting policy in light of the difficulties encountered in the implementation of the voting system in the foreign constituency through the submission of proposals to review the policy. These proposals aimed to review law 459/2001 to reconsider and improve the voting system in the foreign constituency. Since 2006 political parties have expressed their idea on the revision of the policy through the proposals, supporting different possibilities to improve the existing policy. Since the XV legislature (from 2007 onward) political parties have submitted 45 proposals: 24 in the Chamber of Deputies and 21 in the Senate (Electoral Archive of the Italian Senate 2016). Table 5.14 shows the numbers of proposals (Progetti di Legge) parties have submitted over the past legislatures.

15 See electoral law 52/2015

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Table 5.14 Number of proposals submitted to eliminate the foreign constituency or modify law 459/2001 Legislatio Chamber of Senat Tota n Dates Deputies e l XVII 15 March 2013 – current (a) 4 5 9 29 April 2008 - 14 March XVI 2013 15 10 25 28 April 2006 - 28 April XV 2008 5 6 11 Source: Author’s adaptation from Electoral Archive of the Italian Senate (a) 01 November 2016

Table 5.14 shows that the highest number of proposals was submitted in the XVI legislation with 25 proposals submitted in parliament. It is important to draw attention to that number of submissions since, at the time, Italy had already experienced two elections with the participation of the Italian citizens abroad and many anomalies were reported in both elections. Problems in the management of the elections in the foreign constituency became evident and these problems were brought to the attention of political parties and political institutions. Since 2006 most political parties and coalitions in the Italian parliament have submitted proposals proving the transversal interest in changing the policy. Despite the differences in parties’ political agenda, the issue of expatriate voting has found some common ground. The majority of the proposals aim to redesign the current census of the electoral lists and to reorganise the voting system. However, some of the numerous proposals, suggest more drastic approaches, among them the complete elimination of the foreign constituency.

5.5.1 Content of the proposals

Even though the revision of the expatriate voting policy is not considered a priority in the Italian political scenario, MPs and Senators have taken an interest in reforming the current law which regulates the electoral method in the foreign constituency. Since the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Italian constitution in 2001, changing the entire voting system from abroad has represented a real challenge for political parties. Due to the complex revision process of the constitution, policy makers have

108 focused on the ordinary law (law 459/2001) in order to reconsider some of the criteria for the electorate to cast their vote from abroad. In this section, the summary of the content of the proposals submitted since 2006 is provided. The The summary will provide an overview of the most significant changes that MPs and Senators have considered to make in the current policy. These changes have been requested as a result of the electoral impact of votes coming from overseas. For this reason, it should not come as a surprise that submission of proposals commenced after the first election which included the expatriate vote in 2006. Before 2006, the policy was not questioned since expatriate voting had not been tested yet. Tables 5.15, 5.16, 5.17, 5.18, 5.19 and 5.20 include the list of proposals, names of the first signatory of the proposals with the related political affiliation and the changes proposed in each document. It should be noted that most of the time proposals are signed by many MPs or Senators. To simplify the analysis of these documents, a choice was made to name only the first signatory since the first name of the list of MPs and Senators represents the name of the person that shows greater interest in the submission of the proposal. Moreover, it should be highlighted that for each legislature two tables are provided since proposals can be submitted in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate. The following table 5.15 includes the summary of the proposals submitted in the Chamber of Deputies since 2006. These proposals were submitted after the first elections with the inclusion of the expatriate voting in 2006.

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Table 5.15 Proposals submitted in the Chamber of Deputies, XV legislature (2006-2008) XV Signatories Changes 29-Jan-07 On. Giuseppe Angeli - in person voting system (AN) and others - votes’ count from abroad

28-Jun-06 On. Gianclaudio - reimbursement for representatives Bressa (Ulivo) and of the foreign constituency. others 20-Jun-07 On. Siegfried Brugger - voting by correspondence for (Misto, Minoranze candidates in the local district linguistiche) and others (proposals for linguistic minorities). 27-Jun-07 On. Arnold Cassola - barcode for identification on (Verdi) and others envelopes; - in person voting; - check the identity of voters before sending the ballots to Rome; - four locations for the scrutiny in Italy. 24- Oct- On. Mirko Tremaglia - five years of residency abroad to 07 (AN) be a candidate in the foreign constituency. Source: Author’s adaptation of the content of the proposals available on the Italian Senate Archive (2016)

During the XV legislature (2006-2007) five proposals were submitted in the Chamber of Deputies. It should be noted that Tremaglia, the promoter of the expatriate voting policy, submitted a proposal to reconsider the regulation of the passive electorate and the residency criterion to be elected in the foreign constituency. Despite his bias towards the policy, even Tremaglia realised some of the weaknesses of the policy right after the first elections, such as the criteria in nominating the candidate to run in the expatriate voting system. The following Table 5.16 includes the six proposals submitted in the Senate from 2006 to 2007.

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Table 5.16 Proposals submitted in the Senate, XV legislature (2006-2008)

XV Signatories Changes 10-Jul-06 Sen. Luigi Lusi - reimbursement of representatives of the (Ulivo) foreign constituency. 12-Jul-07 Sen. Filippo - in person voting system. Berselli (AN) e altri AN 13-Jul-07 Sen. Renato - surnames of candidates on ballots. Guerino Turano (Ulivo) e altri 18-Jul-07 Sen. Andrea Pastore - inversione dell' opzione (new registry of (FI) e altri UDC e the Italian electorate from abroad); altri - in person voting system; - no preferences, blocked list.

2-Aug-07 Sen. Oskar Peterlini - inversione dell' opzione (new registry of (Aut) the Italian electorate from abroad). 18-Dec- Sen. Mauro Cutrufo - elimination of foreign constituency. 07 (DCA-PRI-MPA) Source: Author’s adaptation of the content of the proposals available on the Italian Senate Archive (2016)

These proposals show the cross party interest in changing the expatriate voting policy since the election in 2006. Proposals were submitted by Senators from most parties in parliament at that time: the right party Alleanza Nazionale (AN), the centre- right party Forza Italia (FI), the centre party UDC (Unione di Centro) and the centre- left party Ulivo. The cross-party interest in reforming the expatriate voting policy appears clear also in the following legislatures when political parties continued to request changes in the policy. The following tables 5.17 and 5.18 summarise the content of the proposals with the changes promoted by the MPs and Senators the policy from 2008 to 2013.

Table 5.17 Proposals submitted at the Chamber of Deputies, XVI legislature (2008-2013) XVI Signatories Changes 29-Apr- On. Mirko - five years of residency abroad to be a 2008 Tremaglia (PdL) candidate in the foreign constituency.

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29- Apr- On. Siegfried - voting by correspondence for candidates 2008 Brugger (Misto) in the local district (proposals for and others linguistic minorities) 29-Apr- On. Giuseppe - *text not available on the database and 2008 Angeli (PdL) elsewhere* 31- Mar- On. Gianni Farina - three districts rather than four in the 2009 (PD) foreign constituency; - preferences in one list; - three locations to count votes; - ballots printed in Italy. 8-Jan -2010 On. Antonio Razzi - electronic voting. (IdV) and others 22- Feb- On. Giuseppe - representatives of Italians abroad: at 2010 Angeli (PdL) and least 10 years of residency abroad. others 2-Mar- On. Fabio Gava - elimination of foreign constituency. 2010 (PdL) and others 9- March On. Giuseppe - in person voting; 2010 Angeli (PdL) and - count of votes in consulates and others embassies. 13- Apr- On. Marco - in person voting; 2010 Zacchera (PdL) and - inversione dell' opzione (new registry of others the Italian electorate from abroad); - ballots print in Italy; - candidates must be registered at AIRE for at least three years. 23-Jun - On. Massimo - elimination of foreign constituency. 2010 Calearo Ciman (Misto, Alleanza per l'Italia) 15- Jul- On. Bruno Tabacci - different voting method in foreign 2010 (Misto, Alleanza constituency: parties use individual lists per l'Italia) and in uninominal lists/ proportional method others for the others. 27- Jul- On. Dario - new method of printing and sending 2010 Franceschini (PD) ballots (ID of on ballots papers); and others - four locations for scrutiny in Italy; - election should be advertised in local newspapers to promote the participation; 27-Aug- On. Aldo Di Biagio - redefinition of active/passive electorate; 2010 (FLI) - more security to guarantee the safety votes. 18-Nov- On. Pier - creation of committees to control voting 2010 Ferdinando Casini procedures; (UdC) and others - new criteria for the candidacy of the representatives in the foreign constituency;

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- three years of residency abroad for candidates. 16- Dec- On. Elena - no preferences on ballot papers 2010 Centemero (PdL) and others Source: Author’s adaptation of the content of the proposals available on the Italian Senate Archive (2016)

The number of proposals submitted from 2008 to 2013 significantly increased compared to the previous legislature. During this legislature 15 proposals were submitted to the Chamber of Deputies. It is evident that the interest in changing the policy is shared across all political parties. After the second election with the inclusion of the expatriates in the electoral system in 2008, political parties had a very clear understanding of the elements required to improve of the law. Berlusconi’s coalition, the coalition who won the elections in 2008, now shows a very clear interest in changing the policy. Some of the members of Berlusconi’s coalition also supported the elimination of the foreign constituency. The same scenario can be also identified in the Senate with most of political parties involved in the submission of proposals to change the expatriate voting policy as Table 5.18 shows.

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Table 5.18 Proposals submitted in the Senate, XV legislature (2006-2008) XVI Signatories Changes 29- Sen. Oskar Peterlini (UDC- - no preferences on ballot papers Apr- SVP-Aut) and others 200 8 21- Sen. Filippo Berselli (PdL) - in person voting; May and others - 200 8

31- Sen. Esteban Juan Caselli - in person voting and ballots’ count in Jul- (PdL) and others consulates and embassies; 200 - election on the same day of election 8 in Italy 3- Sen. Giuseppe Firrarello - in person voting and votes’ count in Mar (PdL) consulates and embassies - 201 0 3- Sen. Andrea Pastore (PdL) - inversione dell' opzione (new registry Mar and others of the Italian electorate from abroad); - - in person voting; 201 - blocked lists (no preferences); 0 - candidates can be anyone and not just people living abroad. 10- Sen. Esteban Juan Caselli - new methods to control votes Mar (PdL) 201 0 22- Sen. Francesco Rutelli - different voting method in foreign Jul- (Misto, Alleanza per constituency: parties use individual 201 l'Italia) and others lists in uninominal lists/ proportional 0 method for the others; - two different ballets for uninominal lists and for the lists; 28- Sen. Anna Finocchiaro - in person voting; Jul- (PD) and others - ballot papers printed in Italy; 201 - use of parcels; 0 - four locations for counting votes; - election should be advertised in local; newspapers to promote the participation.

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5- Sen. Gianpiero D'Alia - committee to check elections’ Jul- (UDC-SVP-AUT:UV- regularity; 201 MAIE-VN-MRE-PLI) and - new criteria of for electoral 1 others representatives; - three years of residency abroad for candidates

3- Sen. Vincenzo Oliva - foreign constituency eliminated from Aug (Misto, MPA-Movimento the Senate (APPROVED) - per le Autonomie-Alleati 201 per il Sud) 1 Source: Author’s adaptation of the content of the proposals available on the Italian Senate Archive (2016)

In the Senate, ten proposals were submitted by political parties’ members to review the policy. It should be noted that only one proposal listed has been approved. The proposal submitted by Senator Oliva, which requested the abolition of the representation of Italians residing permanently abroad from the Senate, was approved since the Constitutional reform voted in parliament in April 2016 has officially changed the role of the Senate. The Senate will no longer be an elective Senate and, for this reason, Italians abroad will no longer vote for their representatives in higher House.16 The following two tables 5.19 and 5.20 include the proposals submitted by MPs and Senators since 2013. Even though the number of proposals submitted in both Houses has decreased compared to the previous legislature, the modification of the expatriate voting policy remains a matter of interest among parties.

Table 5.19 Proposals submitted in the Chamber of Deputies, XVII legislature (2013- current) XVII Signatories Changes 27- On. Marco Meloni temporarily abroad, vote in their local district May- (PD) and others 13 16-Oct- On. Fabio Porta (PD) temporarily abroad, vote in foreign 13 and others constituency 15-Jan- On. Roberto Speranza inversione dell' opzione (new registry of the 14 (PD) and others Italian electorate from abroad);

16 This reform will be officially completed with a referendum that will be held on the 4th of December 2016.

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parcels for ballots to track them; votes’ count in four different Corti d'Appello, one for each district to verify identity of the voters

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XVII Signatories Changes 3-Feb- On. Alessandro Di inversione dell' opzione (new registry of the 14 Battista (M5S) and Italian electorate from abroad); others representatives of Italians abroad can be also Italians living in Italy and not just people in the Foreign constituency; verification of ballots at consulates and embassies; ballots can be used for people living more than 50km from consulates; temporarily abroad, vote in their local district; new electoral list merging AIRE and MAE lists; six districts rather than four; Com.It.Es and CGIE members cannot be elected as representatives; four locations in Italy for the vote counting. 28- On. Alessio Tacconi voting registry managed by Ministry of May- (Misto) and others Foreign Affairs; 14 inversione dell' opzione (new registry of the Italian electorate from abroad); electronic voting system together with voting by correspondence; tracking numbers for ballots; ballots printed in Italy; redesign the foreign constituency (too complicated, not achievable). 1-Apr- On. Mauro Ottobre voting by correspondence for candidates in 15 (Misto, Minoranze the local district (linguistic minorities) linguistiche)

Source: Author’s adaptation of the content of the proposals available on the Italian Senate Archive (2016).

As happened in previous legislatures, identical proposals for the same political parties have been submitted in both Houses as a demonstration of political parties’ initiative in reviewing the reform. Since 2013 only five proposals have been submitted by Senators as shown in the table 5.20.

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Table 5.20 Proposals submitted in the Senate, XVII legislature (2013- current) XVII Signatories Changes 15- Sen. Karl Zeller (Aut - voting by correspondence for Mar- (SVP, UV, PATT, UPT) - candidates in the local district 2013 PSI) and others (proposals for linguistic minorities) 25- Sen. Aldo Di Biagio - temporarily abroad; vote by Sept- (SCpI) and others correspondence in foreign 2013 constituency. 15- Sen. Francesco Russo (PD) - Temporarily abroad; vote by Oct- correspondence in local districts. 2013 10- Sen. Luigi Zanda (PD) and - inversione dell' opzione (new Jan- others registry of the Italian electorate from 2014 abroad); - ballots printed by the Ministry of the Interior; - parcels with receipt for ballots; - copy of a valid document inside that ballots; - valid ballots should be identified by electoral offices in consulates; - votes' count in 4 Corti d’ Appello (Roma, Firenze, Milano, Napoli); - advertisement of elections in local newspapers. 24- Sen. Antonio Razzi (FI- - Electronic voting Jul- PdL XVII) 2015 Source: Author’s adaptation of the content of the proposals available on the Italian Senate Archive (2016)

Although expatriate voting is not a pressing matter matter of discussion, the number of proposals submitted demonstrates a general recognition of the problems in the current legislation amongst political parties. Political parties have included in their proposals ideas to improve the expatriate voting system but thus only for one proposal has been successful. The following section includes the analysis of the proposals submitted since 2006. The analysis wishes to highlight the most recurrent ideas submitted by political parties to highlight the possible future scenarios of the expatriate voting policy and the inclusion of the Italian transnational community in the electoral system.

5.5.2 Analysis of the proposals

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Before analysing the content of the proposals, some methodological notes should be provided to understand the methodological approach used to conduct the analysis of the documents. Despite the number of policies submitted, most of the proposals do not include original changes but repetitions of proposals already submitted in previous proposals submitted by the parties. For this reason, only the most recurrent themes and suggestions to review the policy are discussed. In doing so, it is possible to understand the area of improvements MPs and Senators have focused on to review the policy across political parties. Secondly, proposals are usually signed by numerous MPs or Senators. They often belong to the same party but it is also common to find proposals signed by MPs or Senators belonging to different political parties. To simplify the analysis, only the MP or Senator who is promoting the proposal (the first name on the list) has been included in this analysis. In the proposals it is possible to identify recurrent ideas to improve the expatriate voting system. For instance, after the numerous problems identified in the voting by correspondence system, many MPs and Senators have proposed the implementation of a new system where Italians could vote in embassies and consulates. The in person voting system was first proposed by MP Giuseppe Angeli from Allenaza Nazionale (AN) together with a mixed group of other MPs in 2007 (C.2184 XV leg.). This system wanted ballots to be cast and counted in ballot centres created abroad in embassies and consulates. This system would have avoided the problem of lost ballots and would have cut the costs of shipping ballots to Italy for the final count. Moreover, personality of voting would have been guaranteed. During the XV legislature the same proposal was submitted by Senator Filippo Bersellei (S.1710 XV leg.) and Senator Andrea Pastore from Forza Italia (FI) (S.1722 XV leg.). In the following legislature a similar proposal was submitted by MP Angeli (PdL) and from MP Marco Zacchera (PdL) both belonging to the Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition Popolo delle Libera’ (PdL) (C.3275 XVI leg.; C.3390 XVI leg.). In the Senate, other Senators of the centre-right coalition submitted a similar proposal (S.624, S.976, S.2049, S.2048 XVI leg.). Moreover, in the Senate a similar proposal was submitted by the left coalition with Senator Finocchiaro supporting the in person voting system (S.2303 XVI leg). During the XVI legislature the support of the in person voting method and scrutiny disappeared in favour of a new method to control the vote by correspondence.

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Some MPs and Senators wanted to reconsider and safeguard the vote by correspondence, introducing new rules for the voting by correspondence. According to the proposals submitted, in order to cast their vote, Italians abroad would have to submit a request to the embassies and consulates to create new electoral lists. This proposal was first made in 2007 by Senator Pastore (FI) and Senator Peterlini (Aut) (S.1722 XV leg; S.1767 XV leg.). During the XVI legislation this idea was not popular among policy makers but, since 2013 PD, the Five Star Movement (C.2038 XVII leg.) and a mixed group of MPs led by MP Tacconi showed their interest in this system again (C.2413 XVII leg). Another recurrent topic in the proposal is the creation of four different ballot stations (one for each district) in Italy to count votes from the foreign constituency rather than having one unified station in Rome. The proposal was submitted for the first time in 2007 by MP Arnold Cassola (Greens) (C.2969 XV leg.) and was later supported by PD in the XVI legislature with MP Farina (C.2348 XVI leg), MP Franceschini (C.3663 XVI leg.), and Senator Finocchiaro (S.2303 XVI leg). In the XVI legislature, PD reaffirmed this proposal with MP Zanda and Senator Speranza. Moreover, the Five Star Movement supported the same solution with the proposal submitted by Di Battista (C.2038 XVII leg.) After the scandals related to the appointment of the representatives in the foreign constituency in the 2006 and 2008 elections, many policy makers submitted proposals to reconsider the criteria for the selection of candidates in the four districts of the foreign constituency. The first proposal on this matter was submitted in 2007 by Tremaglia (AN). In his proposal (C.3186 XV leg.) Tremaglia wanted to include a time frame of five years of residency abroad for Italians abroad to be eligible to run as candidates in the foreign constituency. Other similar proposals were submitted in the XVI legislation by PdL and UdC with MP Ferdinando Casini (C.3878 XVI leg.) and Sen. D’Alia (S.2811 XVI leg.). Other proposals on the regulation of the passive electorate in the foreign constituency also included the reconsideration of the eligibility of Italians to run as candidates from abroad. The Five Star Movement suggested that not only Italians abroad but all Italians should be entitled to represent Italians residing abroad and the residency abroad should not be considered a criterion sine qua non (C.2038 XVII leg.).

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Since 2007 another common proposal was made in relation to the printing of ballots. According to many, ballots should not be printed abroad but they should be printed in Italy and distributed to Italian offices abroad before the elections. This suggestion was first made by MP Gianni Farina (PD) in 2009 (C.2348 XVI leg.) and it was later supported by other proposals submitted by PdL with MP Zacchera (C.3390 XVI leg.). PD resubmitted the same proposal in the Senate and also in the XVII legislature with Sen. Zanda (S.1235 XVII leg.). MP Tacconi together with other MPs submitted the same idea in his (C.2413 XVII leg.). Since 2013, five proposals have been submitted in regard to the participation of Italians living temporarily abroad. As previously mentioned, the issue of Italians living temporarily abroad became an urgent issue only in the current legislature, due to an increasing number of Italians relocating abroad. PD, Five Stars Movement (M5S) and Scelta Civica (SCpI) submitted proposals to allow this group of Italian emigrants to cast their vote during the elections. However, MPs and Senators had divergent opinions whether these votes had to merge in the foreign constituency or in local districts. While MP Meloni (PD) (C.1056 XVII leg.), MP Di Battista (M5S) (C.2038 XVII leg.) and Sen. Zanda (PD) (S.1235 XVII leg.) supported the vote in local districts, MP Porta (PD) (C.1704 XII leg.) and Sen. Di Biagio (SCpI) (S.1059 XII leg.) preferred Italians temporarily abroad to vote for the representatives of the foreign constituency. As can be seen, even within one party (PD) MPs and Senators could not find an agreement on the approach to adopt. These proposals found a positive outcome with the new electoral law 52/2015 and since 2016 Italian citizens temporarily abroad will be able to vote from abroad within the foreign constituency. The issues listed above are the most recurrent problems policy makers wanted to tackle in their proposals to review the law. As of today, the proposal on the inclusion of the Italians temporarily abroad in the election was successful. It should be also highlighted that among the 45 proposals, there are proposals that wish for the total elimination of the foreign constituency and the expatriate voting system. Sen. Mauro Cutrufo (DCA-PRI-MPA) suggested the elimination of the policy for the first time in 2007 (S.1938 XV leg.). This proposal was followed by other three in the XVI legislation. MP Gava (Pdl) and MP Calearo Ciman supported the same idea (C.3262 XVI leg; C.3573 XVI leg.). In 2011 Sen. Oliva (Misto) submitted a proposal to eliminate the representatives of Italians abroad from the Senate (S.2875 XVI leg.).

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This proposal was successful since the Italian parliament approved the reform of the parliament in 2015 on the elimination of the elected Senate pending the results of the referendum that will be held in 2016. If the changes are approved with the 2016 referendum, Italians abroad will no longer have their representatives in the Senate. Apart from these radical proposals, political parties have shown an interest in fixing the problems highlighted over the years without affecting the backbone and functions of the foreign constituency. Among these proposals, there are also two proposals that aimed to redesign the foreign constituency. In 2011 MP Farina (PD) submitted a proposal to change the number of districts from four to three with a consequent redistribution of representatives (C.2348 XVI leg.). The proposal submitted by MP Di Battista (M5S) in 2014 also aimed to change the number of districts from four to six (C.2038 XVII leg.). These are the only more extreme proposals MPs and Senators submitted over the past ten years for major changes of the current expatriate voting policy. The rest of the proposals submitted and not mentioned includes isolated ideas of MPs or Senators. A full list of the proposals submitted since 2006 is provided in Appendix 2.

5.6 Conclusion

This chapter has provided an analysis of the data on the electoral participation from overseas and on the electoral results in the foreign constituency. Since the first election with the involvement of Italians living permanently abroad, the electoral system in the foreign constituency has been challenged by many issues that put the foreign constituency under the spotlight. Due to the numerous problems related to the current policy, political parties have tried to review the policy in light of the problems experienced during the elections. The analysis of the data provided by the Ministry of the Interior and the document analysis of the proposals submitted by political parties has provided a detailed picture of the Italian context and debate around the expatriate voting policy. Moreover, the analysis has also helped to draft the question for the interviews conducted in this research. Data gathered from the interviews has been included in the following chapters.

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CHAPTER 6

A new understanding of expatriate voting: the policy makers’ perspective

6.1 Introduction

This chapter analyses the political debate on the expatriate voting policy and its evolution. The aim of this chapter is to provide a full understanding of the motivations that facilitated the implementation of the expatriate voting policy and the evolution of policy makers’ perception of this practice since its implementation. Moreover, the chapter wants to explore the future the expatriate voting policy in light of the sentiment policy makers have developed over the years towards the policy and towards the legitimacy of the inclusion of Italian emigrants and their descendants in the political and electoral system. In this chapter, the evolution of the debate on the expatriate voting policy is discussed with the support of the data collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data was collected between June 2014 and March 2016.Twenty-four Italian policy makers were interviewed to discuss the Italian expatriate voting policy and related issues. The contribution given by policy makers offers a political and institutional perspective of the current debate on the policy in the Italian context. The group of interviewees, defined in this research as policy makers, includes current and former political parties’ members, political parties’ consultants, current and former members of the Italian institutions, academics and experts of the field. The first part of the chapter explores the political motivations that facilitated the implementation of the policy. Policy makers have helped to outline the political environment at the time of the implementation of the policy and the drivers that fostered the support for that policy. The second part of the chapter examines the policy makers’ current views on the policy. The expatriate voting policy was introduced in 2001 and it is believed policy makers can offer valid insights on the evolution of the policy after 15 years since its implementation. The third part of the chapter looks at the debate about possible changes of the current legislation. Changes of the policy

123 content have been explored in light of the electoral experiences since 2006. The three electoral experiences have challenged the implementation of the voting system from abroad. The last section of the chapter looks at problems and gaps in the current policy. Moreover, this final part of the chapter discusses the difficulties encountered by Italian institutions in reaching Italian emigrants and their descendants living abroad.

6.2 Opportunism and compromise: the creation of the foreign constituency

Before analysing the current political debate on the expatriate voting policy, it is important to understand the context in which the expatriate voting policy was implemented and the drivers that facilitated the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Italian constitution. In this section, the role of some policy makers and the historical turning points in the evolution of the policy have been analysed to comprehend the motivation for the inclusion of the expatriate voting policy.

6.2.1 The Political Participation of Italian emigrants and the role of Mirko Tremaglia

The first element to analyse to understand the impact of the expatriate voting policy in the Italian politics is the reasons of the engagement of Italian citizens living overseas in the domestic political life of the country of origin. Over the years, Italian governments discussed the implication of emigration for Italy only for a theoretical perspective with some political parties espousing the issue but with limited interest to submit real proposals. Consequently, Italy has faced difficulties in creating and managing strong socio-political connections with Italian migrants. The introduction of expatriate voting significantly changed the perception of the Italian transnational community: from an inconvenient and complex phenomenon Italians overseas became a potential electoral reserve. Despite the failed attempt in creating a vast political debate in the parliament about the legitimacy of political engagement of Italian citizens living abroad, some policy makers managed to impose their view on emigrants’ political inclusion. The inclusion of Italian citizens living abroad in the political life of their home country became a “political battle” conducted by few policy makers; one such figure was Mirko Tremaglia. As Sergio Romano, former Italian ambassador recalls: “[In the

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80s] migration issues became a topic used by single individuals to build their own professional career in Italy and overseas, as [Mirko] Tremaglia did” (Romano 2014). Elected for the first time in 1972 as MP for the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI), Tremaglia was considered one of the few neo-Fascists left in parliament at the end of the twentieth century. Even though he was labelled Fascist, generally speaking, those who met Tremaglia describe him as Fascist gentleman, honest, with strong beliefs (Fusaro 2014, Rivolta 2014, Romano 2014). While there had been many speculations about the interest of the MP in the political engagement of emigrants, as Romano highlighted, according to Francesco Pascalis, former member of the CGIE in Australia and current President of Com.It.Es in Melbourne and President of the INTER- Com.It.Es in Australia, Tremaglia believed in the political contribution of Italian citizens living abroad in the Italian politics: “There were people who believed he was a certain level of hypocrisy due to the his political part agenda. However, I believe he had a genuine interest in the value of inclusion of Italian expatriates because his family history” (Pascalis 2015). When Tremaglia went to visit his father’s grave he was positively surprised about the good condition of the cemetery, the respect of the Italian community and the interest the Italian community living there had in In 1995 Tremaglia’s party MSI changed its name to Alleanza Nazionale (AN) and the right wing party joined the centre-right coalition lead by Silvio Berlusconi. AN was a small party but its role became crucial within the centre-right coalition. In order to maintain a strong coalition, Berlusconi had to support requests made by members and parties in his coalition and supporting their proposals in parliament. Due to the political environment within the right wing coalition at that time, Tremaglia did not miss the chance to promote the expatriate voting policy. He was aware of the importance his little party had gained in the coalition. Tremaglia genuinely believed in the legitimacy of political participation of Italian citizens living overseas, strongly enough to make the expatriate voting the political battle of his life. However, within the coalition, MPs and Senators did not feel the same way about the political inclusion of migrants. As Dario Rivolta, a former MP of Berlusconi’s party Forza Italia, recalls, Tremaglia challenged Berlusconi in the process of getting the passage of the legislation:

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The expatriate vote became Tremaglia’s battle of life. He forced the support for the law within the coalition. Forza Italia, however, has always been against it. I still remember the day we had the second vote in the Chamber of Deputies to implement the foreign constituency in the Constitution. We did not reach the legal number to pass the law. Tremaglia walked outside and started screaming in the ‘Transatlantico’ so journalists could hear him. He said Berlusconi was a scoundrel because he had not shown up for the vote on purpose. Of course the vote of the proposal was rescheduled because Berlusconi did not want to upset Tremaglia (Rivolta 2014).

Recalling these events, Rivolta highlights two crucial elements about the relationship between Berlusconi and Tremaglia. Firstly, Berlusconi wanted to maintain a peaceful relationship with Tremaglia’s party Alleanza Nazionale (AN) in order to keep the coalition together. In doing so, the expatriate voting policy became a compromise Berlusconi had to make despite his party’s opinion against the inclusion of emigrants in the electoral system and the implementation of the foreign constituency in the Constitution. Secondly, Berlusconi forced the members of Forza Italia to vote in favour of the expatriate voting policy to appease Tremaglia. Rivolta remembers the feeling on voting day in parliament:

I wanted to vote against it. I asked Berlusconi to step outside the room since other colleagues were there and he did not need my vote. However, Berlusconi was so concerned about reaching the legal number to pass the law that he forced me to step inside and to vote in favour. I was not happy with my vote. I was absolutely in favour of allowing Italians living abroad to vote from overseas but I was completely against the foreign constituency (Rivolta 2014).

Rivolta was one of many against the implementation of the foreign constituency in the Italian constitution. According to another former MP, Berlusconi and his party never expressed enthusiasm for the policy. However, the implementation of the foreign constituency was only possible because of Berlusconi’s political interest in maintaining a strong coalition. These circumstances became the key for Tremaglia’s success. Despite Berlusconi’s personal interest in passing the law, the left wing coalition also played a crucial role in implementing the expatriate voting policy. In the Italian

126 system, in order to change the constitution, the parliament has to vote in favour with a two third majority of votes in both Houses: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate (Rolla 2007). As a result, implementing the foreign constituency in the Constitution would not have been possible without the support of the centre-left wing coalition.

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6.2.2 The Foreign Constituency and the Left Wing Support

Historically, the centre-left coalition had never supported the expatriate voting policy and the inclusion of citizens living in foreign countries in the Italian political system. The arguments made by Tremaglia, however, forced a dialogue between the two main coalitions in parliament at that time. The former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato describes the emotive arguments made by Tremaglia:

At that time, voting against Tremaglia’s proposal of the foreign constituency, as the model to collect votes from abroad, meant being against Italian communities living abroad. This is what good politicians are able to do: proving you are against the whole thing even though you are arguing only on specific items of the proposal. The consensus was reached because voting against the law meant being against Italians overseas, our fellow countrymen. This was such an emotional topic that could only lead to one solution (Amato 2014).

The nationalistic and emotive arguments made by Tremaglia became crucial in gaining the support of the centre-left wing coalition which eventually supported the proposal for the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Constitution. Even though the foreign constituency was implemented with the support of both coalitions, the drivers that changed the perspective of the centre-left parties from a negative to a positive perception of the expatriate voting system needs be analysed in detail. Norberto Lombardi, a long time consultant of the left wing parties like Democratici di Sinistra (DS) and Partito Democratico (PD), explain the difficulties in convincing the centre-left coalition to support Tremaglia’s proposal:

Our group was sceptical in supporting the law for two reasons. First of all, the expatriate voting was an old topic of Fascism. Secondly some in the party were concerned about the fact that Italian migrants were integrated in their hosting countries and re-creating political ties with our migrant would not have helped them to integrate in their new countries (Lombardi 2014).

Even though Amato explains the change of direction of the left coalition due to the emotional debate in parliament and the sentimental motivation raised by some MPs, according to Lombardi (2014) the centre-left coalition changed its idea as a

128 consequence of the intervention in the negotiation of high profile personalities like Piero Fassino, the undersecretary at the Minister of Foreign Affairs at that time. Without denying the persuasive skills of some politicians, it seems unlikely an entire coalition changed its opinion on such a topic based on the presence of relevant policy makers in the negotiation. It seems however, opportunistic reasons played a crucial role in policy makers’ perception on the inclusion of the expatriate voting. Rivolta offers another interpretation of the facts about the change of mind of the left coalition: “The centre-left coalition supported Tremaglia’s proposal of the foreign constituency because it was the safest option for them. Votes from overseas would have gone in the ‘Indian reservation’17 and would not have affected the vote in the Italian districts” (Rivolta 2014). Considering the centre-left coalition reluctance towards the inclusion of Italian migrants in the homeland elections, the centre-left coalition saw in the implementation of the foreign constituency the best compromise in the negotiation process. Of the same view is Pascalis who offers some support to Rivolta’s analysis of facts. According to Pascalis (2015), the support of the expatriate voting policy and the implementation of the foreign constituency “was an expedient that was found due to specific dynamics which can be summarised with the political parties’ and institutional convenience” (Pascalis 2015). Moreover, Pascalis explained the shared view amongst political parties in regard to the political participation of Italian emigrants:

“All political parties could not accept that people living outside national territory had the possibility to determine important changes in the Italian political scenario and the idea of allowing expatriates to vote for the last district of residency in Italy was perceived as dangerous. For this reason, they decided to implement the ‘Indian reservation’ and to keep us in a bubble” (Pascalis 2015)

Creating a specifically-made constituency appears to be a common practice among countries that have introduced expatriate voting policies. A recent study by Hutcheson and Arrighi (2015) shows that countries that implement expatriate voting policies have

17 This term is the result of the direct translation for the Italian expression of “riserva indiana”. In this context, Rivolta refers the peculiarity of the foreign constituency highlighting how votes of Italians living abroad have been “segregated” in a constituency that was artificially created in order to avoid any kind of contamination of votes. The author acknowledges that the expression can be misinterpreted but a fair translation of the concept that could express the same metaphoric and semantic concept has not been found. For this reason, a close translation of the interview has been provided.

129 found a way to reduce the impact of these votes in electoral outcomes, using different methods. One of these methods is the creation of the foreign constituencies. In the case of Italy, reducing the impact of the votes coming from abroad was certainly the aim of the centre-left coalition. The coalition viewed the creation of the foreign constituency as a good compromise without exposing the coalition to damages that voting against Tremaglia’s proposal would have caused. Voting against the policy would have been certainly inconvenient from a political point of view as Amato explains. The centre-left coalition knew that the creation of the foreign constituency had become politically accepted in the centre-right wing of the parliament and they did not want to be left behind. Sergio Romano described the change of mind by the centre-left coalition as pure conformism, simply falling in line:

While most of people in Parliament doubted the system promoted by Tremaglia, political parties did not want to be left behind on this matter and decided to support the expatriate vote because it seemed a popular idea at that time. Conformism prevaricated; nobody would have gone against a very popular idea; they were scared to miss the boat (Romano 2014).

The centre-left party did not want to be labelled as the party against Italians abroad and policy makers could not afford to lose potential votes. The arguments made by Tremaglia in parliament has certainly fostered the support for the expatriate voting policy but it appears policy makers’ supported of the policy for reason of political gain.

6.2.3 The role of the transnational communities in supporting the policy

Based on the literature and the data collected, the perceived opportunistic gain from expatriate voting played the most significant role for the successful implementation of the policy. However, it is important to understand whether transnational communities were involved in the debate on the political inclusion of Italian citizens living outside the Italian territory. Francesco Pascalis, president of the Com.It.Es for Victoria and Tasmania (in Australia) and former member of the CGIE, offers some insights about the role of specific transnational groups in promoting the implementation of the foreign constituency:

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“It appeared very clear to me that there were different approaches between the transoceanic communities and the European communities. The European group had already in mind a representation in parliament with representatives directly elected by Italians living abroad. This idea was very distant from the expectations the transoceanic communities had. Maybe some in South America had given some thought to this matter but this proposal was considered utopian and impossible to realise” (Pascalis 2015)

Pascalis’ description shows the the different levels of involvement amongst Italian communities abroad in the discussion of the expatriate voting policy. The European representatives of the Italian community (Com.It.Es and CGIE) were able to influence the debate, pushing for the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Italian constitution. According to Pascalis (2015), the proposal to implement the foreign constituency was the result of a “certain degree of fanaticism of some members of the CGIE that could potentially see themselves in parliament as MPs or Senators” (Pascalis 2015). Tremaglia accepted the inclusion of the foreign constituency as a result of some European representatives’ persistence and the role of some advisors close to him: “Tremaglia worked very closely with a person named Zovatto who convinced Tremaglia to support the foreign constituency and the elections of Italian abroad” (Pascalis 2015). According to Pascalis, this was the extent of the impact the Italian transnational communities had promoting the expatriate voting legislation. It seemed that very few were involved in the debate of the inclusion of the policy and these people supported the policy for perceived personal interest and not for genuine interest in involving expatriates in the electoral system of the country of origin. Some transoceanic communities were not interested in the political engagement of Italians living abroad. As Pascalis explains, members of Com.It.Es and CGIE in Australia were more interested in raising other issues impacting transnational communities, for example providing adequate support to teach Italian in their local schools. Pascalis’ account highlights the different attitudes of Italian communities abroad towards the expatriate voting system and, more importantly, the role played by a small elite in implementing this policy.

6.2.4 The 2006 elections: from Right to Left

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By the end of the twentieth century Berlusconi and Tremaglia became interdependent in terms of political goals. Berlusconi helped Tremaglia to succeed and, at the same time, Tremaglia’s party became crucial for Berlusconi’s victory in the 2001 elections. To strengthen the alliance between the two parties, during the XIV legislation (2001-2006), Berlusconi created the Ministry for the Italians in the World. The creation of this ministry demonstrated the importance of the role played by the Alleanza Nazionale MP in maintaining a stable coalition. However, Berlusconi’s sympathy towards the expatriate voting policy did not last long. While Berlusconi supported the inclusion of the foreign constituency, in order to maintain a strong coalition, he never shared Tremaglia’s enthusiasm about the inclusion of representatives of Italian citizens living abroad in the Italian parliament. The breaking point between Berlusconi and Tremaglia arrived in 2006 when the expatriate voting policy was finally tested in the first election. Disagreements started to emerge during the preparation of the political campaign for the upcoming election within the right wing coalition. Tremaglia decided to run for the election in the foreign constituency without the Forza Italia logo, confident of his success as he was well- known amongst Italians living abroad. Rivolta recalls:

Tremaglia asked to test his popularity amongst expatriates with a poll. A certain person, Piepoli, was in charge of it. Piepoli’s poll was a fraud. The results he provided suggested that Tremaglia was known by 94% of Italians overseas and 80% out of this 94% trusted him. Because of these results he asked to run for the election without political parties’ logo but only with a ‘Tremaglia list’… I was completely against it. [Tremaglia] asked for a meeting with Berlusconi. Eventually the meeting was held with Berlusconi, Letta, Fini, Tremaglia and myself. We tried everything to convince him not to run alone for the election but in the end he created his own list. Tremaglia obtained one seat in South America and we lost the elections. Since that first election the congeniality towards the foreign constituency has decreased (Rivolta 2014).

Tremaglia overestimated his popularity abroad causing the political loss of the centre-right coalition in the 2006 election. The outcome of the election became a turning point for the perception of the expatriate voting policy among policy makers, especially for Berlusconi and his party. Criticism started to be raised not only about the creation of the foreign constituency but also about the political role of the

132 transnational community in the politics of the sending countries and Berlusconi withdrew his support for the expatriate voting policy after the 2006 election. Lombardi (2014) explains: “When it comes to election outcomes, of course, political parties look out for their interests. When they don’t get votes they see no value in keeping the foreign constituency”. This approach can be valid for both coalitions. If Berlusconi could not see any value in supporting the expatriate voting system, the centre-left coalition, instead, found new reasons to openly support the foreign constituency and the expatriate voting policy based on the political outcomes. As it turned out, the votes coming from abroad in the 2006 elections determined the victory of the centre-left coalition. It also dismantled the stereotypical perception “Fascism/Italians overseas” that occupied the political debate on the expatriate voting for decades (Il Manifesto 2006). The centre-left coalition, previously sceptical regarding the expatriate voting policy, welcomed the policy based on the election outcomes. However, as PD Senator Micheloni (2014) explains: “The foreign constituency has been involved in the logic of partisan politics, supported by parties that were gaining votes and criticised by parties less popular overseas” (Micheloni 2014). The first electoral experience in 2006 with the inclusion of the foreign constituency showed the impact of the votes coming from overseas in the electoral results. It should be noted, however, the impact of votes coming from abroad in determining the majority in parliament was not a direct consequence of the expatriate voting system but a product of mixed factors. The introduction of the expatriate voting policy and the changes made in the electoral policy became crucial to determine the electoral outcome in 2006. The result of the combination of these two policies was the electoral outcome of the election and the impact of votes coming from abroad in the overall electoral results. Despite the attempt made to contain the impact of the votes coming from abroad with the creation of the foreign constituency, votes in the foreign constituency became crucial in the election outcomes in 2006. As a consequence, policy makers started a new discussion about the impact of votes coming from abroad, and indicating the necessity of possible changes to the policy. After the 2006 elections, the emotive reasons supporting the political participation of Italians living abroad disappeared in favour of a debate focused on the legitimacy of the expatriate voting system. Reconsidering the political role of Italian citizens

133 residing permanently abroad started to be discussed in an effort to redesign the policy. Political legitimacy was just one of the issues discussed by policy makers. Criticisms were also expressed by both coalitions due to technical problems that affected the voting by correspondence.

6.3 Current debate on the expatriate voting policy

In this study, political parties and members of the institutions have discussed their current opinion on the expatriate voting highlighting the direction they wish to take to reconsider and improve the current policy. This section of the chapter discusses the most relevant positions of political parties in the current Italian political context.

6.3.1 Forza Italia and Partito Democratico (PD)

After the election in 2006, Berlusconi openly withdrew his support for the expatriate voting policy. After 2006 more MPs started opposing the foreign constituency especially Forza Italia members. Policy makers affiliated with Berlusconi’s party describe the interest in the expatriate voting policy in the past and currently as non existent. As Rivolta (2014) confirms, Forza Italia has never been interested in the expatriate voting policy. It was only a matter of circumstances to please Tremaglia and to maintain a solid coalition. Lucio Malan, a Forza Italia Senator, also states: “[Today] within our party, a large number of us are against the foreign constituency” Malan (2014). Rivolta and Malan do not leave much for interpretation confirming opposition coming from Forza Italia and supporting the idea that opportunistic choices played a crucial role in 2001. According to Forza Italia Senator Malan (2014), Forza Italia hopes for substantial changes to the current policy especially regarding the foreign constituency. However, the Partito Democratico (PD), the party that holds the majority in the current legislation, does not share the same view on the matter. Since 2006 PD has become the strongest supporter of the political engagement of Italian citizens living outside the country. The approach within the party on the expatriate voting has shifted over time. Seen as an inconvenient policy by the centre left party in 2001 that required a specifically made constituency to merge votes of Italians living abroad to avoid any contamination of the domestic political results,

134 current PD members of parliament believe this policy should be valued and defended. In the 2013 election five MPs out of twelve and three senators out of six were voted in the foreign constituency from PD party-lists. This appears to be a first valid reason to support the policy from the party’s perspective. According to Garavini, MP elected in the foreign constituency in the Europe District, PD’ s view is clear: “While there are isolated voices saying the foreign constituency should be abolished, PD with Renzi’s government is absolutely in favour of maintaining the foreign constituency” (Garavini 2014). Malan (2014), who belongs to opposition, confirms that the current Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will not modify the foreign constituency, even though his government has started a process of revision of the Constitution. Garavini is confident that the PD fully supports the existence of the foreign constituency, although fellow party Senator Micheloni, elected in the foreign constituency in the same European district, has a different opinion on what MPs and Senators really think about the expatriate voting policy. According to Micheloni (2014), the “isolated voices”, as described by Garavini, are no longer isolated. Micheloni confirms a general dislike towards the foreign constituency in parliament, even within his own party. Micheloni states: “I am confident that, if MPs could express their own opinion freely, most of them would vote against the foreign constituency” (Micheloni 2014). It is not new that most of the time MPs and Senators follow directives by the party leaders rather than expressing their personal opinion. This behaviour is shared among political parties on both sides of parliament. However, Micheloni’s concerns highlight the fact that there is an increasing dislike of the expatriate vote policy in parliament which could potentially threat the continuation of the policy.

6.3.2 Five Star Movement (M5S)

In 2013 the Five Stars Movement (M5S) ran for election for the first time gaining a large number of seats in parliament (109 in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 Senators). The M5S in parliament introduced a new player into the Italian political arena which has affected the balance of power within the Italian political scenario. Since the M5S entered in parliament, MPs and Senators have submitted many policy proposals, including a proposal to modify the expatriate voting policy.

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The proposal submitted by the movement aimed to redesign the current policy based on the issues the Movement has identified in the previous electoral experiences and based on the current socio-political context of the country. According to Di Battista (2014), one of the most popular MPs of the Five Star Movement, the M5S felt there was a need to reconsider the policy based on the new emigration wave Italy is currently experiencing. The M5S have supported the involvement of new Italian migrants in the political process, allowing them to participate in the political life of their home country: “It is fundamental to preserve and value their contribution in this new phase of Italian politics” (Di Battista 2014). The issue of the new Italian migration wave and the political role of new migrants will be further discussed in the following sections since this topic is a matter of concern for many political parties. There is no doubt M5S finds consensus among younger generations and this appears to be a strong driver to reopen the debate on the expatriate voting policy. The proposal submitted in 2014 was one of many actions by the M5S to tackle issues related to the expatriate voting policy. In a parliamentary session in January 2015, Roberta Lombardi, MP of the Five Star Movement (M5S), suggested amendments to the Italian Constitution, describing the foreign constituency as “unnecessary” (Lombardi 2015). The suggestion by Lombardi indicates a new approach adopted by the movement and the suggestion made to remove the foreign constituency appears quite different compared to Di Battista’s proposals. Since January 2015 the M5S has changed its approach in terms of the expatriate voting system. The proposal submitted in 2014 wished to make some structural changes to the law which regulates the voting system in the foreign constituency. One of the changes in the M5S suggestions was to make includes districts and the eligibility of candidates elected abroad. Overall the idea of removing the foreign constituency was not highlighted at that time. As Di Battista explains: “Requesting the modification of the Constitution would not have brought any results; instead we decided to act immediately with a proposal to change the law to limit the damages the Tremaglia’s law is causing” (Di Battista 2014). The approach of the M5S in 2015 is eventually towards the elimination of the foreign constituency. Despite the divergent opinions among members of the M5S, M5S presence in parliament has contributed to reopening a weak parliamentary discussion on the expatriate voting policy. Moreover, the definition of the foreign constituency as

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“unnecessary” has generated complaints from the voters of the M5S, as being disinterested in Italian emigrants. The intent of reopening the debate in parliament has in part backfired for the M5S. Even though criticism of the proposal made by the M5S to eliminate the foreign constituency has only involved few members of the M5S electorate, it is interesting to analyse the arguments used by these members. Back in the 1980s, when the law was discussed, the issue of emigration and the political participation of Italians living abroad appeared to be a difficult topic of discussion because of the damage to the image of the party the discussion could cause. Even in a very small arena like the M5S blog, it is evident that the emotional motivations and the political gain can still play a major role in the discussion of the policy and the electoral consequences could damage parties that are involved in the discussion.

6.3.3 The costs of expatriate voting

Despite the timid attempts by some policy makers to re-open the discussion of the political engagement of Italian citizens living abroad from a theoretical perspective (Amato 2014, Romano 2014), most of the concerns expressed by policy makers look at the maintenance and improvement of the expatriate voting system. Only a few positions have raised doubts about the foreign constituency during the implementation process of the policy. During the drafting process of the policy Sartori criticised the expatriate voting policy being proposed. In 1999 Sartori described the foreign constituency as an electoral district in orbit (Sartori 2004). He criticised Tremaglia for investing in a system that, in theory, had the aim to represent an enormous number of Italians living abroad but, in practice, could represent no one. The fact that Italians are scattered around the world makes it impossible to create a specifically-made representation. Sartori’s opinion seemed to be one of very few voices against the foreign constituency at that time. Today Sartori appears as one of the few to have predicted implications of a bad decision made at that time. Giuliano Amato, a former Prime Minister and current member of the Constitutional Court, shares Sartori’s opinion. According to Amato (2014) dividing the world in four districts was an “absurd idea”. Since the first elections in 2006 difficulties in managing a world-wide constituency have fostered a negative attitude towards the policy. Over the past few years, Amato has openly criticised the current

137 policy. However, at the time of the vote, he was one amongst many who supported the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Constitution. Amato justifies his vote and the choice made by his party as a consequence of the emotional arguments made by Tremaglia at that time: “Tremaglia’s way of doing politics, using sometimes rhetorical and emotional arguments about Italian migrants helped him to succeed” (Amato 2014). It seems the most convenient option at that time has currently generated regrets shared by other policy makers. Even personalities then affiliated with Berlusconi today share Sartori’s and Amato’s criticism. Dario Rivolta (2014) for instance defines the foreign constituency as an “expensive Indian reservation” of votes. The economic aspects of the policy should not be underestimated in the discussion of the policy. The financial crisis and budget cuts Italy has been undergoing have also affected political institutions. For this reason, the expatriate voting system could potentially become an object of revision due to its costs. In 2001, when the foreign constituency was implemented, Italy was in a better financial situation. The economic impact of this new voting system on the Italian budget was not as relevant as it is today. Norberto Lombardi, consultant for Partito Democratico (PD) states: “The democratic participation of Italians abroad is considered a luxury because it is an expensive system. It appears each election costs about 20 million Euros. This figure used to be nothing back in the days, nowadays it has become a more serious matter to take into consideration” (Lombardi 2014). Moreover, other costs related to the foreign constituency should be taken into account to understand the real cost of this system. Some of the costs related to the expatriate voting policy include expenditure by MPs and Senators elected in the foreign constituency and is paid by Italian communities in their districts. The role of MPs and Senators elected in the foreign constituency is to represent the Italian community residing in foreign countries in the Italian parliament and, for this reason, extra costs are included for their activities in their electoral districts. Looking at the current division of the foreign constituency, districts are geographically large since they include continents or even more than one continent. For this reason, the engagement of the MPs and Senators with the transnational communities’ needs be consistent throughout their mandates and, in order to do so, extra costs are involved for traveling. The size of the districts within the foreign constituency is considered a major issue not just in term of costs. While drafting the policy in the late 1990s the issue of the

138 complexity of managing these districts was raised as Sergio Romano remembers: “Districts in the foreign constituency are too big and it is very hard to control the voting system. They were concerned something messy would happened and eventually it did” (Romano 2014). The issue of the enormous size of the districts became a reality when the system adopted to cast votes by correspondence failed to guarantee the safety of voting process. This issue and other problems related to the geography of the foreign constituency are discussed in the following sections.

6.3.4 The Committee of the “Wise men”

Opinions about the foreign constituency presented in this study have demonstrated that the expatriate voting policy does no longer command the same popularity and support compared to early 2000. Policy makers discussing the future of the policy do not only include members of parliament. Concerns over the policy have also been discussed among Italian institutions and this debate has contributed to the consideration of possible changes. In 2013 the former President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, appointed two committees with the aim of suggesting possible constitutional reforms. The first commission was appointed in March 2013 and included four members: Mario Mauro, Valerio Onida, Gaetano Quagliarello and Luciano Violante. These members have been part of Italian political arena for many years, occupying different roles within Italian institutions. This group of experts has been defined by Italian media the group of the “Wise Men”. In the final report submitted by the commission the expatriate voting policy was included in light of possible changes of the Constitution. The committee suggested the elimination of the foreign constituency, suggesting a new system which could guarantee the security of the vote cast by correspondence (Relazione Finale Gruppo di Lavoro sulle Riforme istituzionali 2013). However, Mario Mauro, one of four member of the commission, disagreed with the proposal of the elimination of the foreign constituency, suggesting instead a revision of the electoral criteria. According to Mauro, this revision would have made the current voting system in the foreign constituency more efficient (Relazione Finale Gruppo di Lavoro sulle Riforme istituzionali 2013). The opinion of the commission generated discussion, especially

139 among those in favour of the current expatriate voting policy. MP Garvini (2014) admits the report helped foster an already existing debate against the policy and the representation of migrants in parliament. For the first time since the implementation of the foreign constituency an official critique of the expatriate voting system came from Italian institutions. Months later a second commission investigated the option of reforming the Italian constitution and the issue of the foreign constituency was raised again. This second commission was appointed in June 2013 and the report was issued in September 2013. This commission included 36 members such as policy makers, members of the institutions and experts in constitutional studies. In the section of the report dedicated to the electoral system, the commission had unanimously expressed a negative evaluation of the current expatriate voting policy (Relazione Finale Commissione per le Riforme Costituzionali 2013). The commission suggested the elimination of the foreign constituency and suggested the implementation of an adequate system to allow the secrecy of the vote for Italian citizens living outside Italian borders. The fact that the 36 members unanimously agreed on the elimination of the policy is considered a significant outcome. This outcome demonstrates there are shared concerns regarding the expatriate voting system among a growing number of MPs and Senators in parliament and within Italian institutions. Valerio Onida, a former President of the Constitutional Court, was a member of both commissions. In commenting on the content of the report Onida stated: “I strongly agree with the idea of the constitution revision; the foreign constituency should be eliminated. It was an unfortunate reform” (Onida 2014). Despite the recommendations made by both commissions, the revision of the Constitution the current government has been supporting does not directly include the elimination of the foreign constituency. As it will be discussed later, however, some of the constitutional changes will also affect the representation of the Italian transnational community in the Italian parliament.

6.3.5 Policy makers in favour

The foreign constituency has been criticised for many reasons, one of which is the division of the world into four large districts (Europe, North and Central America,

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South Africa and AAOA- Africa, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica). This idea has been considered a “bizarre” choice by some policy makers and experts in the Italian political context (Sartori 1999, Amato 2014, Onida 2014). Italy, however, is not the only country in Europe (and in the world) that has included representatives of citizens residing permanently abroad in the electoral system. France, Portugal and Romania have also included a foreign constituency with the elections of representatives of their emigrant communities. In each country the number of representative elected are: France 11, Portugal 4, and Romania 4 (Hutchenson & Arrighi 2015). Croatia has a single district in which Croatian overseas citizens can vote (Arrighi, et al. 2013). Even though the implementation of a foreign constituency is considered a recent phenomenon, countries such as Brazil have demonstrated an increasing interest in the inclusion of expatriates in their homeland politics. In Italy, not everyone is against the current expatriate voting policy and the presence of representatives of Italian citizens living abroad in parliament. PD is certainly supporting the foreign constituency and the political participation of Italians living abroad. The group of policy makers supporting the existence of the foreign constituency in the constitution obviously includes MPs and Senators elected in the foreign constituency. For instance, Nissoli (2014), MP of Per l’Italia (PI) elected in the North and Central America district, states that her party supports the foreign constituency as it is (Nissoli 2014). Alleanza Nazionale, the party of the deceased father of the expatriate voting policy,Tremaglia, still supports the foreign constituency. Cirielli, a current Alleanza Nazionale MP, describes the foreign constituency “a brilliant idea” developed by Tremaglia. According to Cirielli (2014) the foreign constituency finds its strength in two elements: one considers it a humanistic issue, i.e. on moral grounds Italians abroad should be able to be included in the election process, but it has also been a convenient policy from a national point of view. The MP refers to the fact that maintaining connections to Italian citizens living permanently abroad has helped Italy in re- launching the “made in Italy” concept around the world. However, Cirielli admits that the voting system implemented in the foreign constituency has shown some gaps in terms of transparency and should be improved (Cirielli 2014). Despite the support for the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Constitution, those in favour recognise the gap in the current voting system. This idea

141 is also shared by Fusaro, scholar and former MP of the Republican Party in the 1980s. Fusaro was also a member of the committee that worked on the electoral law implemented for the foreign constituency in late 1990s. Fusaro believes the current law has shown some shortcomings and political parties should fix them (Fusaro 2014). Overall Fusaro believes the expatriate voting policy has been a success based on the fact that the Italian constitution does not discriminate between Italians in Italy and Italians living overseas.

6.3.6 Participation from overseas

The decreasing participation in the election registered in 2013 has become an issue in the discussion of the future of the policy. In 2006 and 2008 the participation was higher compared to the most recent one with participation in both Houses around the 40 per cent. Not everyone agrees that the decreasing number of participants from overseas should be a matter of concern. According to Fusaro (2014), participation in domestic elections has been decreasing also, so the decreasing number of participants from abroad should be considered a normal trend. Moreover, decreasing participation in elections appears to be a global tendency among countries that do have compulsory voting systems (Fusaro 2014). The decreasing electoral engagement in the foreign constituency should not be considered a peculiarity of the Italian transnational community. However, the figures on participation from abroad in the elections could be used as an indicator in the discussion against the expatriate voting policy. The participation recorded from abroad has already raised the question whether Italians living abroad see value in their political inclusion in their home countries. It should also be remembered that Italians living in foreign countries can elect their representatives in parliament. The decreased number of voters in 2013 has been interpreted by some policy makers as an increasing disaffection with the Italian political context. Marco Fedi, MP elected in the Africa-Asia-Oceania-Antarctica district in the PD list, recognises the issue of political disengagement of Italians living abroad. Fedi explains Berlusconi was responsible for the poor perception of Italy around the world (Fedi 2014). According to the MP, Berlusconi lowered the image of country, fostering a phenomenon of disaffection among Italians living abroad towards Italy and the Italian politics. Fedi states: “the disinterest demonstrated by our voters

142 living overseas is a consequence of a lack of international dependability of Italy and disaffection of our migrants” (Fedi 2014). Political scandals within Italian politics have not been confined to Berlusconi’s party but have also involved most other political parties, including PD.18 Undoubtedly, if the trend of participation continues to decrease, the question whether the expatriate voting policy should be abandoned will eventually be raised.

6.3.7 Italians overseas: a complicated (political) matter

Based on the support previously demonstrated towards the expatriate voting policy, the current government has decided to exclude the discussion about the political participation of Italians living abroad from the revision of the Constitution. As mentioned, re-opening the Pandora’s box of the political inclusion of expatriates could be counter-productive for the image of the parties. For this reasons policy makers have avoided discussion of this topic in parliament since the implementation of the policy. Now as then, reopening the debate on the role of Italian citizens living abroad appears to be a very thorny topic which could impact in a negative way. Implementing reforms regarding the expatriate voting policy implies the need for courage from political parties (Romano 2014). Policy makers have avoided the discussion of this policy for political convenience. Romano explains: “If MPs or political parties decide to submit a proposal to eliminate the foreign constituency and the process of passing the law fails, this initiative will only hurt the parties” (Romano 2014). Parties do not want to be labelled as being against Italians citizens living abroad. The emotional arguments that could occupy the discussion for a reform can potentially hurt the image of the party. For instance, the attempt made by the Five Star Movement to reopen the discussion about the legitimacy of the foreign constituency have been strongly criticised by part of the electorate. Addressing the issue of the enfranchisement of emigrants appears complex and damaging for individuals as well as for parties.

18 In 2014 PD was involved in the scandal called “Mafia Capitale” where Mafia involvement has been investigated in the City Council of Rome, involving members of the PD.

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In explaining the content of the reports submitted by the commissions appointed by the President of the Republic in 2013, Onida also agrees that future reforms on the expatriate voting policy will only be implemented if parties find the courage to start a process of transformation of the current policy: “It is hard to go back. This could give the impression some political parties are against Italians overseas. There is resistance in going back. If only they had the courage to do it” (Onida 2014). Onida suggested that the elimination of the foreign constituency from the Constitution (“going back”) appears to be impossible even though he believes this option should be considered. The lack of courage to start a new discussion about possible changes of the policy is not the only element missing among Italian policy makers. It appears the main problem in approaching a discussion on the role of migrants is the lack of interest in analysing the current socio-political and economic role of Italian citizens living abroad and the impact of transnational communities in domestic politics. The institutional feedback included in the reports released by both commissions appointed by the President of the Republic in 2013 could possibly limit the damage to the political parties’ image. The suggestion made by experts could facilitate a new dialogue using the reports as “cover” to safeguard the image of the political parties. As it currently appears, addressing the issue in parliament to initiate a process of substantial changes in the policy or, even considering the elimination of the foreign constituency, appears a risk some policy makers are not willing to take. However, political parties have submitted numerous proposals to change the ordinary law which regulates the voting system in the foreign constituency. Moreover, the current government has started a constitutional revision process which indirectly will affect the foreign constituency. These changes could be an initial step in the revision of the expatriate voting policy in a longer time frame.

6.4 Political participation and voting system in the foreign constituency

As demonstrated, policy makers are currently divided into two main camps: those strongly against the foreign constituency and the current expatriate voting policy and those who still support the policy and the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the constitution. Despite disagreement on the current system for the political engagement of migrants, policy makers share the same negative opinion about the voting

144 regulations implemented for the foreign constituency. This issue appears to be one of the more urgent matters policy makers need to reconsider.

6.4.1 Electoral lists for Italian emigrants

The expatriate voting law establishes that Italian citizens residing permanently abroad cast their vote by correspondence to elect their representatives in the foreign constituency. This voting system has been highly criticised by many policy makers since 2006, becoming a matter interest for the two commissions appointed by the President of the Republic in 2013. Both commissions considered a new voting system to elect the representatives of Italians in the foreign constituency (Relazione Finale Gruppo di Lavoro sulle Riforme Istituzionali 2013). This suggestion was made to safeguard the in person vote and the security of the votes since the current system has demonstrated some gaps and weaknesses in securing the vote following the Italian electoral principles. The difficulties in implementing safe voting procedures in the foreign constituency have been discussed with policy makers. Former PM Amato states: “It is too complicated to manage the voting process implemented; these votes are not transparent no matter how hard consulates try” (Amato 2014). Amato refers to the unfortunate events that have affected the elections since 2006 and have undermined the credibility of the expatriate voting system. Electoral fraud in the voting process in same districts of the foreign constituency have been reported by Italian media causing a debate on the efficiency of the system. Micheloni, PD Senator elected in the foreign constituency in the Europe district, admits there is not much sympathy towards the representatives of Italians living abroad also due to the illegal activities discovered in voting by correspondence. Since 2006 fraudulent activities have involved some of the representatives elected in the foreign constituency, thus affecting the credibility of foreign constituency:

The reasons why political parties have lost their interest are many and I cannot blame them. Let’s just consider the infiltration of criminal elements in the foreign constituency, for example the Di Girolamo’s case or the problem of the ballots in Venezuela. Looking at these events it is normal to start questioning the system (Micheloni 2014).

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Firstly, Micheloni refers to the infiltration of criminal elements caused by one of the representatives elected overseas, Nicola Di Girolamo. Di Girolamo was elected in 2008 on Berlusconi’s party lists Popolo delle Liberta’ (PdL) in the foreign constituency for the Europe district. After the elections and his appointment as Senator, an investigation was conducted proving Di Girolamo lied on his residency status overseas, a fundamental criterion in order to be elected in the foreign constituency. In the following years Di Girolamo was accused of and sentenced for his affiliation with the Mafia and violation of the electoral law (La Repubblica 2011). These events have certainly put the foreign constituency in the spotlight for the wrong reasons fostering distrust of this institution among policy makers. To some extent, the foreign constituency has become a vehicle for criminal activities raising major concern about the legitimacy of the voting system. Secondly, Micheloni refers to the cases of fraud in the voting process. Investigations conducted by the media have demonstrated that in some districts, numerous ballots had the same signature. This evidence raised the problem of the in person voting procedures. Moreover, Italian policy makers realised there was an issue of tracking unused ballots. At the moment Italy does not have a system to recall unused ballot papers and this deficiency in the system has facilitated the infiltration by criminal organisations. Institutions’ lack of control of voting by correspondence has contributed to increase doubts regarding the entire system, supporting the idea of revising the electoral system for the representatives of Italians living abroad. The problem of the voting system has been recognised by all parties, including those who support the current expatriate voting policy like Partito Democratico (PD). According to Garavini (2014) and Fedi (2014), the PD is interested in promoting some changes in order to safeguard the in person voting. These changes will help to fix the problems that occurred due to some gaps in the current voting system. Garavini explains the intention of the party:

What we would like to implement the ‘inversione dell’ opzione’; we would like to change the system for the electoral poll. People who want to cast their vote will have to enrol to receive their ballots via mail. We want to change this system because every time we run elections too many ballots are lost or they never reach recipients. Sometimes these ballots are inappropriately used (Garavini 2014).

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In the current system, Italians registered at the AIRE (Register Office for Italians residing overseas) who are 18 years of age or older, automatically receive electoral ballots by correspondence when elections are held. This system has caused many problems in reaching the electorate for different reasons. The most common reasons are the relocation of voters without updating their contact details at the consulates or embassies or unreliable postal delivery services in some countries. Moreover, the current system does not include any regulation to recall unused ballots. For instance, those who decide not to cast their vote can throw away their ballots. As a result, ballots can be potentially intercepted and used by somebody else. Due to this issue, policy makers would like to create a new electoral register. Only Italians who express their desire to cast their vote will receive the ballots. The proposal submitted by PD to create new electoral lists in the foreign constituency has been positively welcomed by other parties’ members interviewed for this research. These MPs belong to Forza Italia and M5S. These parties also recognise the same problems in the voting system and support significant changes to the foreign constituency. This alternative way to create electoral registers is considered a positive solution by many policy makers. As Lombardi explains: “the inversione dell’ opzione [asking citizens living abroad to register for every election] is the way we will be able to enhance the voting by correspondence system and, at the same time, this new system could help to face the pitfall of the financial issues related to the practice of the expatriate voting” (Lombardi 2014). This new system will certainly reduce the costs of the current system. The number of unused ballots and related mailing costs will be reduced since ballots will be printed and sent only to people that are registered in the new electoral lists. However, this system could significantly impact on the participation in the foreign constituency. Since 2006 voters have automatically received ballots at home so, even the less informed and involved in Italian politics and affairs have been invited to vote. The suggested system of inversione dell’ opzione will require voters to express their interest in casting their vote in every election. Based on the decreasing participation over the past year, this system could further reduce the electoral participation from abroad. Policy makers appear to be aware of the consequences of this system but don’t see these consequences necessarily as an issue.

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Apart from political parties’ members, other policy makers express their support towards this policy as Romano highlights: “[This system] will show awareness of those citizens that wish to cast their vote” (Romano 2014). As was previously mentioned, it appears that Italian citizens abroad as demonstrated are less aware and interested in Italian political life. This issue is a consequence of many factors such as the disaffection of Italian citizens in the sending country’s matters and a successful integration of Italian citizens in hosting countries just to mention some. All these elements will be discussed in more detail in the following chapters. Despite potential decrease of turnout in the foreign constituency, policy makers appear to be willing to make crucial changes in the current policy to implement a safer system. Even though policy makers stress their interest in securing the system, a dramatic decrease of participation could undermine the existence of the foreign constituency and the representatives of Italian overseas. According to Sergio Romano, this new voting system could be crucial for the future of the expatriate voting policy: “With the decrease of the electorate it is only a matter of time. When elections are held and a drop of participation will be registered then somebody will start asking if it is worth to maintain this ‘house of cards’” (Romano 2014). Romano suggests that this new hypothetical registration system that would safeguard the engagement of Italian citizens from abroad, could backfire on those who are trying to support the policy. If the participation from overseas further decreases, policy makers will have to discuss whether the representation in parliament could still be considered representative of the overall transnational community. For this reason, the proposed system could play in favour to those who are supporting the elimination of the representation from abroad.

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6.4.2 Constitutional changes: the reduction of representation in parliament

Despite the promise made by the current government to not modify the representation from abroad, the government has started a process of revision of the Constitution that will affect the foreign constituency indirectly. The constitutional revision aims to transform the bicameral system, modifying the role of the Senate in the legislative process. If the revision process has a positive outcome with the referendum scheduled for December 2016, the Senate will no longer be made up of elected members of parliament. Since the Senate will be a non-elected House, representatives of Italians elected in the foreign constituency will no longer be elected to the Senate.19 However, representatives of the Italian communities living abroad will continue to be elected for the Chamber of Deputies. These changes have not been welcomed by the senators elected in the foreign constituency. Despite the demonstrated support towards the expatriate voting system and the maintenance of foreign constituency, the current government will sacrifice part of the representation of Italians living overseas in parliament, eliminating the six Senators. Francesca La Marca (2014), MPs of Partito Democratico (PD) elected in the North and Central America district explains that the representation of Italian migrants will remain in the Chamber of Deputies. Keeping the representation in the lower House should be interpreted as a positive sign according to the MP. Francesco Giacobbe (2014), Senator of the PD party elected in the AAOA district, stresses the fact that the current revision of the constitution undertaken by the Partito Democratico should not be considered as an action against Italians abroad. Despite the comforting words offered by the PD members, this revision has created some concerns among the representatives elected in the foreign constituency about their future in the parliament. Even though MPs have received the reassurance from the government, confirming the presence of the representatives in the Chamber of Deputies, Senators elected overseas are fully aware of the consequences if they lose their seats. As a result, Senators have submitted a proposal to support the representation of Italian citizens living abroad in the Senate (and not in the Chamber of Deputies). The rationale of this proposal is based on the fact that the new Senate

19 See Superamento del bicameralismo paritario e revisione del Titolo V della Parte seconda della Costituzione AC N. 2613-A/XVII

149 will not be involved in the electoral process so political parties could not use the foreign constituency as a reserve of votes as they have been doing since 2016 (Micheloni 2014). It could be argued that the attempt made by the group of senators with the submission of the proposal has been done in order to safeguard their seats in the Senate. This issue could raise questions about the genuine interest in representing Italians living overseas in the parliament. Despite the individual benefits of being part of the Italian political area, there are other more relevant factors that should be considered. As Micheloni (2014) suggests, political parties’ opportunism in using the electorate overseas as a vote reservation has become a popular and strong argument in the debate on the expatriate voting policy. This issue has become one of the arguments to support a non-elective representation in the future Senate. This proposal was not accepted and the final text of the Constitution that will be voted in late 2016 includes an elected representation in the Chamber of Deputies, reducing the numbers of representatives in the foreign constituency from eighteen to twelve. In general, most MPs and Senators elected in the foreign constituency are convinced that the presence in the Parliament of the Italian transnational communities is legitimate and should be safeguarded. However, Marco Fedi, MP elected in the district AAOA, admits: “The foreign constituency is not necessarily a solution that should last for centuries” (Fedi 2014). Fedi is fully aware of the consequences this reform of the Constitution could bring, suggesting that the decrease of representatives in parliament, together with the new registry to cast votes from overseas (if implemented), could potentially start a constructive debate on the existence of the expatriate voting policy in the Italian system. The reduction of the representatives will definitely diminish the impact of the representatives elected overseas in parliament casting doubt on a genuine interest by the government in maintaining the foreign constituency. Even though there will not be drastic changes in the short term, the reduction of the representatives of Italians living overseas in the Italian parliament could be a first step for future attempts to eliminate the representation of Italian citizens permanently overseas from the parliament.

6.4.3 Reconsideration of the voting by correspondence system

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Many policy makers, such as PD’s member of parliament, have considered the introduction of a new electoral register as a solution to safeguard the vote from overseas and guarantee the secrecy of the vote. If the proposal asses, this system will guarantee that only the voters who request the ballots will be able to cast a vote during the election. This system will solve the issue of reaching citizens, preventing the unfortunate events of lost ballots as occurred in past. This system will also help to avoid the costly waste of printed and unused ballots. While this system could provide a solution and guarantee that only people who are registered will receive the ballots, voting by correspondence will still remain the electoral method that has been widely criticised for the issue related to the safeguarding of votes. For this reason, Forza Italia MPs for instance, would prefer the implementation of the in person voting in embassies and consulates. This in person voting system has been implemented by many nations around the world but Italian policy makers did not consider it as a solution at the time of the implementation of the policy. The in person voting reached popularity after the first election in 2006, when electoral fraud during the elections were registered in the foreign constituency. However, over the years, the popularity of the in person voting has decreased. Certainly this system could prevent anomalies in the voting process and it will guarantee the secrecy and security of the voting process. Argenti, consultant for Scelta Civica on Italians living abroad matters, is one of few still in favour of the in loco voting: “I believe voting by correspondence is the major problem and this system of casting votes should be reconsidered. The solution could be the creation of polling stations in consulates, embassies and other ad hoc location to reach as many Italian expatriates as possible” (Argenti 2014). Argenti’s opinion is shared by other policy makers and other political parties. For instance, Forza Italia policy makers believe that voting in person could be a real option for the overseas electorate. On the other hand, Rivolta recognises that the creation of polling stations in embassies and consulates could create discontent among members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

I am sure the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not agree with this proposal. Implementing this system will force the Ministry to involve more people, not all venues are appropriate to create voting stations and they will have to implement measures to ensure the safety and the anonymity of voters. However, this practice is used by many countries around the world (Rivolta 2014).

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Implementing polling stations in consulates and embassies requires diplomatic staff to supervise polling stations together with military supervision required by Italian law. This is not a proposal the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would look upon favourably. The current voting system has already been criticised by some members at the Ministry and defined as time consuming for the diplomatic staff. An analysis released by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Employees Union reports that “[…] every Head of Diplomatic Mission is forced to dedicate to this [electoral] process a whole month prior each consultation affecting other activities” (Approfondimento 11: Il voto degli Italiani all’ Estero). Implementing the in person voting would cause even more malcontent among diplomatic staff and for this reason, policy makers appears to be no longer exploring this option. Italian policy makers are sceptical about this option also due to the geography of some districts and the scattered presence of Italians in foreign countries. One of the consequences in implementing the in person voting could be a decreasing of participation due to the inability of electors to travel to the polling station. Creating polling stations in major cities could reduce the possibility for some people to cast their votes because of distances. Even though the correspondence system appears to be unsafe, sending ballots via correspondence gives the opportunity to reach Italian citizens who do not live in urban areas and cannot travel to cast their vote in person in embassies and consulates. In short, despite other states’ experiences and the guarantees of the in person voting can give, this system does not seem to be an option that Italian policy makers will discuss further. It should be noted that, despite the voting method, the real problem policy makers will discuss is the consequences that voting methods could have on turnout. So far, none of the options that have been discussed would have an impact on electoral participation.

6.4.4 E-voting

In considering other options to involve and potentially increase the electorate in the foreign constituency policy makers have expressed some interest in electronic voting system (e-voting and remote voting system). As for other methods previously discussed, electronic voting also divides policy makers.

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The use of e-voting in elections has become increasingly popular with 31 countries around the world using a non-remote electronic voting (Esteve, Barrat, Goldsmith & Turner 2012). Among European states Estonia and Switzerland are the countries that have implemented the electronic voting system in order to deal with declining participation in elections (Scammel 2013). Based on the peculiarities of the foreign constituency characterised by a world-wide constituency, recent declines in the participation and the controversial results of the voting correspondence, the e-voting currently appears to be a solution to overcome issues that have affected the voting process in the foreign constituency. In recognising electronic voting as the most promising method to cast votes in the future, Sergio Romano explains why Italian policy makers are not convinced of this method: “There is one side of this country which is extremely conservative and against modernisation” (Romano 2014). This reluctance towards technology has certainly contributed to scepticism regarding the use of electronic voting. Moreover, in the specific case of the foreign constituency, there is a general understanding that the electorate overseas consists mostly of elderly voters of the first generation migrants. The composition of the electorate is the major problem which makes policy makers doubt the e-voting. It should be highlighted, however, that Italian institutions do not provide any data on the composition of the electorate in terms of status (first, second, third generation Italians). As Fusaro explains, implementing electronic voting (e- voting or i-voting) could have a negative impact on turnout: “I am not a modernist regarding this matter. Our electorate includes lots of older people; this system could distance voters” (Fusaro 2014). The problem with political involvement of elderly people is crucial for the electorate overseas. Over the years, first generation migrants have shown more interest in homeland politics and they appear to be the most involved during elections. Implementing electronic voting could discourage electors to cast their vote since some of them are not familiar with the use of technology. Garavini shares the same concerns as Fusaro. The MP for the Partito Democratico explained however, the possibility of using both, electronic voting and correspondence systems as a possibility to examine (Garavini 2014). In contrast, Forza Italia does not see a future for electronic voting in Italy. According to Malan, Senator of Forza Italia, electronic voting could be hacked and it could cause electoral fraud (Malan 2014).

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However, some policy makers consider electronic voting systems a real option in the foreign constituency. According to Corelli, MP for the right wing party Alleanza Nazionale, the electronic voting system could help to avoid voting frauds experienced in the foreign constituency (Cirielli 2014). His idea seems to be supported by others in parliament: “We don’t have to be afraid of innovation, this is also a common practice implemented by other countries” (Scotto 2014). Casting votes with the electronic voting system is not a completely new process for some parties. For instance, PD uses the remote electronic voting to include the Italian electorate residing overseas during the primary elections to elect the leader of the party. The Five Star Movement also involves the electorate in the discussion of policies, appointment of MPs and Senators and suggestions for proposals via their website. As a result, over the years, political parties have been experimenting with the use of technology on a small scale in the voting process. However, Di Battista, Member of Parliament for M5S, points out that, despite the recognition of the importance of technology and the advantages of e-voting, this system is not feasible for Italy for technical reasons (Di Battista 2014). Italy certainly maintains a conservative approach towards voting system. The demonstrated efficiency of the General Register Offices (Uffici Anagrafe) in reaching the electorate in the Italian territory together with the sceptical approach towards technology have never forced policy makers to consider the use technology for electoral purposes within the nation. If electronic voting has been recognised to be an efficient solution by many, some policy makers do not like the idea of experimenting with the use of electronic voting in the foreign constituency. One of the major concerns of Fedi is that the foreign constituency could become an “experimental platform” where Italian institution test new voting systems (Fedi 2014). Because of the peculiarities of the foreign constituency, policy makers should start differentiating the voting systems in order to facilitate the participation from overseas. Creating new electoral registries, for instance, could become an efficient system implemented only for the foreign constituency due to its peculiarities. It is evident that electoral and voting needs of domestic districts and foreign constituency are dissimilar. Even though other European countries have already introduced e-voting to tackle the decline of participation, policy makers consider this system not applicable in the Italian foreign constituency. The composition of the electorate is an issue and policy

154 makers do not want to risk losing votes and the support from the elderly. Despite the attempt to find a solution to the problem caused by the current voting system, policy makers’ decisions have been following a clear intent: limiting risks in the voting system with as less impact as possible on the turnout during the elections. It is unclear whether a real solution can be found based on the debate illustrated above. Once again, it appears clear that a further decline of participation could have a real impact on the existence of the foreign constituency and this is a consequence for policy makers supporting the foreign constituency, especially those elected overseas, wants to avoid.

6. 5 Included and excluded: Italians permanently and temporarily overseas

6.5.1 Issues related to the AIRE registry

Reaching Italian citizens living outside Italian borders has been the most crucial yet difficult tasks Italian institutions has ever faced. Over the years the census system for Italian citizens abroad has showed many shortcomings in providing a precise figure of the presence of Italians abroad for many reasons. The registration at the AIRE is a voluntary action and there are no penalties if Italians do not register. As a result, many Italian citizens living in a foreign countries decide to keep their residency in their last location of residency in Italy, not appearing on the lists of Italians residing overseas. Many Italians have chosen not to register because of perceived disadvantages. Even though registering on the AIRE is the only way to receive ballots and vote while abroad, the current system deprives Italians of some civil rights such as free healthcare assistance and residential taxation privileges until their return to Italy. Due to their overseas residency, healthcare insurance provided by the state, which is free in Italy, is not guaranteed to Italians residing overseas when returning to Italy for a period longer than 30 days. Moreover, properties owned by Italians who reside overseas are taxed as second houses (no matter if this is the only property they own). The current legislation has been perceived as very disadvantageous for Italians overseas, especially for those who planned to relocate for a limited period of time. As a result, many Italians relocating overseas do not register with the AIRE, choosing not to take part in the electoral process but maintaining other rights. In recognising this general tendency, Garavini expresses her disappointment: “This is not a positive

155 outcome since people renounce their voting rights by choosing not to register [at AIRE]. I believe rights are at the same as duties and by doing so Italians overseas show a lack of civic responsibility” (Garavini 2014). This tendency has definitely an impact on the expatriate voting policy and on the possibility to create an accurate register of Italians residing overseas. Firstly, Italians overseas decide to renounce their voting rights, considering political rights less important than other rights they could potentially lose by registering at the AIRE. As a result, the number of the electorate overseas has been affected by citizens’ choice. Secondly, the current system does not guarantee a truthful census of Italians overseas. Italy has not been able to implement a system that can provide a realistic number of Italians relocated overseas. Moreover, since the implementation of the Schengen Treaty within EU member states, the removal of borders has made this count even more complicated. Thirdly, this system only allows Italians who reside overseas for more than twelve months to register at the AIRE. As result, excluding members of the army, academics and diplomatic staff, Italians who relocate overseas for less than twelve months can only cast their votes by returning to Italy in their normal local district. This topic has generated much discontent among policy makers in the light of a new migration wave Italy has been affected. This issue will be discussed in the following section. Some other issues such as irregularities in the voting system in the foreign constituency have occurred because of the current management of the AIRE. As Marino (PD) explains: “The fact that many Italians registered but do not communicate their new address or other changes of circumstances have caused irregularities in the voting process during the elections that have been reported and magistrates had to deal with these forms of electoral fraud” (Marino 2014). As was previously described, the problem of reaching Italians in the foreign constituency has been identified as one of the many problems in the current policy. The fact that Italian institutions cannot easily provide an up-to-date registry has facilitated unfortunate events during elections. Despite the recognition of these difficulties in the system by policy makers, Micheloni explains why nothing has been done so far: “We will not be able to reform it because in parliament people have other priorities” (Micheloni 2014). Yet again, the policy makers describe expatriate voting policy as not a priority and the policy will not be reviewed in the short term by the parliament. Over the years this lack of interest

156 has created a confusing and complicated system to manage. The necessity to update the current policy, starting from the census system, has been acknowledged by many; however, insufficient interest has been demonstrated. Reforming the AIRE could implicate the re-opening Pandora’s box of the expatriate voting and this appears to be an action political parties are reluctant to make despite the recognised urgency.

6.5.2 Italians temporarily overseas

The aim of policy makers with the implementation the expatriate voting policy was to create a specific representation of the Italian transnational community in Parliament. Italians abroad became more involved in the political life of their sending country with the elections of their own representatives. As previously described, the arguments by those who supported the policy considered the expatriate voting policy as the necessary action the Italian government had to undertake to maintain connections with Italian citizens overseas. Indeed, the current policy was developed with the image of Italians who migrated during the nineteenth and twentieth century in mind. The current expatriate voting policy ensures voting rights for those who are permanently abroad but do not include Italians living temporarily overseas. This characteristic of the policy has become a controversial issue of the Italian policy to engage citizens living outside Italian borders. In recent times, however, policy makers have started to discuss the perceived unfairness of the policy toward Italian citizens who relocate abroad temporarily. Short-term mobility for work or study purposes, especially in the EU, has been become common. Italian politics, however, has demonstrated not to be able to adjust policies based on modern migration movements. The political engagement of temporary migrant appears to be one example. As was mentioned in the previous section, Italians temporarily overseas are excluded from the electoral process because they are not permitted to register with the AIRE. As a result, only Italians who reside abroad for more than twelve months are entitled to vote. Consequently, those who reside overseas for less than twelve months cannot participate in the election unless they return to Italy and cast their vote in their local electoral districts. With the organisation of the last election in 2013, this issue generated criticism among policy makers and the electorate overseas. All parties requested the

157 implementation of a new system to allow Italians temporarily overseas to cast their vote from overseas. Political parties’ MPs and Senators submitted proposals in order to find a solution for the political engagement of temporary migrants. However, the issue remained unresolved and in the 2013 election Italians temporarily overseas could only vote by returning back to Italy. In discussing possible solution to include Italians temporarily overseas, policy makers came up with two possible solutions as Lombardi explains:

The first solution is to allow Italians temporarily overseas to cast their vote for the foreign constituency. This solution, however, does not satisfy this category of voters who still have a very vivid interest in Italian politics. Moreover, these new migrants are very familiar with technology and their interest in Italian politics might affect voting outcomes in the foreign constituency. This possibility is not very appreciated by those who have been involved in politics in the foreign constituency for a long period of time. The second solution is the relapse of votes in the local districts where migrants last resided. This is a very complicated solution because this system will involve thousands of districts in Italy (Lombardi 2014).

The first option indicated by Lombardi can be considered to be the easiest option to implement from an institutional point of view. However, as Lombardi explains, this solution is considered the easiest in terms of implementation yet the most controversial. Firstly, Italians temporarily abroad often do not consider themselves part of the transnational community. These group of migrants will have to vote for someone that will not represent his or her interests. As a result, voting the representatives in the foreign constituency could be perceived as an expedient to prove the willingness of the institutions in allowing migrants to vote. However, this option would be an unfair solution for emigrants that wish to exercise their full voting rights. Secondly, representatives of Italians overseas will certainly not like the idea of having new members of their overseas electorate. As Lombardi (2014) described, Italians temporarily overseas are more aware of Italian political debates and issues. They are definitely more involved in Italian politics than Italians overseas and, for this reason, the presence of this new electorate could potentially impact results of the elections in the foreign constituency.

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The second solution proposed by Lombardi would require an enormous effort by Italian institutions in order to allow Italians temporarily overseas to cast their vote from abroad for their local districts. Even though this option would certainly please the electorate guaranteeing the full expression of citizens’ voting rights, this solution appears to be unachievable for logistical reasons. It should be remembered that votes in the foreign constituency do not merge into votes in the domestic constituencies and, for this reason, votes in the foreign constituency are not considered in the total count to determine the majority of votes. The second option described by Lombardi would allow Italians temporarily abroad to contribute in the final count of votes to determine the majority bonus in parliament as for the electoral system in Italy. Despite the difficulties in implementing this option, this solution would guarantee full voting rights to temporarily migrants. It is undeniable, however, that technicalities for the inclusion of this category of migrants are difficult to manage. Policy makers however do not have doubts about the legitimacy of the inclusion of this group of migrants in the electoral process and they have an idea how to do it. For instance, Marco Fedi explains:

Italians temporarily overseas should vote for their Italian district. Those parties who suggest Italians temporary abroad should cast their vote for the foreign constituency are saying so just because they believe this is the easiest solution. This is a way to avoid the problem but this will cause more issues for the foreign constituency that is already struggling. This will not be a reasonable solution (Fedi 2014).

As Lombardi suggested, the representatives of Italians elected in the foreign constituency do not like the idea of the inclusion of the temporary migrants in the electorate of the foreign district. On the other hand, policy makers are more cautious in promoting one system over another because there is no evidence on the number of Italians temporarily relocated overseas:

It is very difficult to find a solution. We would like to give the possibility to Italians temporary overseas to cast their vote but we are trying to find a good mechanism to facilitate their votes and to, more importantly, to count them. Furthermore, it is very hard to have an exact appraisal of Italians temporary abroad (Garavini 2014).

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The fact that there is no verified number of Italians temporarily overseas is certainly considered an issue in the process of discussion of a new policy. There is no way to know at the moment what kind of impact the inclusion of Italians temporarily abroad will have in the electoral turnout. The Five Star Movement also support the inclusion of Italians temporarily overseas. According to proposals submitted by the movement, Italians temporarily overseas should cast their votes for their local districts in Italy by correspondence (A.C. 2038: Art 1, section 3). As was argued earlier, this system appears to be complex and the one that will require more resources. However, the M5S is not alone in supporting this system. Former PM Giuliano Amato explains why Italians temporarily overseas should vote for their local district: “Why should a researcher who migrates for five years in Australia be interested in voting for the foreign constituency? I believe this researcher would be more interested in being represented by a MP running for a seat in Italy so his/her vote could make a difference in the composition of the Parliament” (Amato 2014). As Amato remembers, votes cast in the foreign constituency do not contribute to forming the majority in parliament. As a result, voting in the foreign constituency for this group of migrants will not guarantee full voting rights as they should be entitled to. This research was conducted from June 2014 to March 2016 and the matter of the participation of Italians temporarily overseas has been included in the debate on the reform of the electoral law. In May 2015 the Italian parliament voted for the new electoral policy which has entered into force in July 1st 2016. This new law includes the participation of Italians temporarily overseas in the voting process. According to the policy, Italians who relocate temporarily overseas (but for a minimum of three months) will have the possibility to register and to cast their vote for the foreign constituency. However, temporary migrants will not be able to run for a seat in the foreign constituency (Aise 2015). This appears to be an unsatisfactory solution for temporary migrants, since this policy provides only active voting rights, limiting de facto passive voting rights: they can vote but they cannot be elected. It seems the Italian parliament opted for the faster and easiest solution to solve the problem of those temporarily overseas. This amendment went almost unnoticed, as for all policies related to the political inclusion of migrants in the history of Italy. In order

160 to understand the impact of this change we will have to wait for the first election with the inclusion of this new category of migrants. However, it is clear that, despite the simplicity of this compromise, policy makers were wishing for another solution. Some policy makers considered the debate on the political engagement of Italian temporarily abroad as an opportunity to rethink the entire policy (Amato 2014).

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6.6 Conclusion

Findings show that the implementation of the expatriate voting policy was the result of political negotiation amongst political parties. Despite the use of emotive arguments to facilitate the creation of the foreign constituency, the inclusion of the foreign constituency was a result of opportunism and political convenience. However, the popularity of the policy among policy makers did not last long due to electoral results and scepticism towards the voting system implemented in the foreign constituency. Amongst the numerous issues, the vote by correspondence and the difficulties in registering Italians residing overseas are some examples of the difficulties encountered since 2006. Because of these factors, the perception of the expatriate voting has completely shifted amongst policy makers and political parties since the implementation. Policy makers are showing more awareness of the positive and negative aspects of this system. However, findings demonstrate that the focus of the debate in reforming the policy mainly focuses on the voting mechanism rather than engaging in a more theoretical discussion of the legitimacy of the political participation of the transnational community.

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CHAPTER 7

Citizenship rights and the legitimacy of the expatriate voting policy

7.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to analyse the Italian approach to the acquisition and transmission of citizenship rights with a focus on political rights. The debate on political participation of expatriates cannot fully be understood without an in depth discussion of the acquisition of citizenship rights in Italy. The Italian citizenship policy and the expatriate voting policy are strictly related in many aspects and the regulation of citizenship rights has been identified as the most crucial factor to understand the future evolution the expatriate voting policy. Data from the interviews was provided by the group of policy makers who discussed the citizenship policy issues which includes former and current member of political parties, political parties’ consultants, former and current members of Italian institutions such as the Constitutional Courts and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, academics and experts in the field. The first part of the chapter provides the historical background on the evolution of the Italian citizenship policy. This section highlights the importance of the ius sanguinis principle in the evolution of the debate on the acquisition of citizenship rights and in the maintenance of the bond between Italy and the Italian communities residing abroad. The second part of the chapter ventures into the findings of this research. The issue of transmission of citizenship and political rights will be discussed based on the analysis of the data collected for this research. This part of the chapter discusses how the ius sanguinis principle and the inclusion of dual citizenship have affected the Italian transnational community and the overseas electorate. The increasing number of Italians living abroad has been investigated to understand the impact of the ius sanguinis principle in the current policy. In the third part of the chapter, the problem of the acquisition and reacquisition of citizenship rights have been analysed. The issue of granting political rights to Italian descendants will be also discussed.

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The final section of the chapter looks at parliamentary activity on citizenship issues by MPs and Senators elected in the foreign constituency. Understanding the approach of the representatives of Italian migrant has helped to analyse the direction in which Italy has been moving to address the issues of the acquisition of citizenship rights.

7.2 History of the Italian citizenship policy

The approach adopted by Italy in granting citizenship rights has always been connected to the phenomenon of emigration (Zincone 2006). Italy has been affected by numerous migration waves over the centuries. Migration waves and the large presence of Italians abroad have not been too seriously by Italian institutions for decades, despite the attempted made by some policy makers to raise the issue of the political engagement since the early 1900s. For many years, Italian governments saw migration waves as an efficient solution, a kind of pressure valve, for an overpopulated country that was facing economic and social pressures (Pastore 2004). And while Italian institutions encouraged the relocation of many Italians to foreign countries, Italy has also demonstrated the intention to maintain a strong bond with Italian communities living abroad. The desire of Italian institutions to keep a strong connection with Italian transnational communities became evident from a legislative perspective with the implementation of the first citizenship policy in 1992. Historically, the fundamental principle used by Italian institutions to regulate the transmission of citizenship rights to Italian descendants followed the principle of the ius sanguinis. This approach, however, has caused diplomatic tensions between Italy and receiving countries (Pastore 2004). In light of different principles used in many receiving countries to where Italians relocated, Italy had to reconsider its first citizenship policy.

7. 2.1 Migration waves and conflicting citizenship policies

The first migration wave experienced by Italians in the late nineteenth century saw migrants relocate to North and South American countries. Most of these countries had a different tradition in granting citizenship rights compared to Italy. While Italy, together with other European countries, had always followed the ius sanguinis principle to grant citizenship rights, countries on the American continent implemented

164 citizenship policies following the ius soli principle. The ius soli principle allows people to acquire citizenship of the country in which they are born or they reside after an indicated period of time. The ius sanguinis principle, on the contrary, allows citizens of a country to transmit their citizenship to their descendants based on blood connections. These different approaches created great conflict in the recognition of citizenship rights for Italian migrants. Italian citizens eventually had to choose between one of the two citizenships since dual citizenship was not allowed at that time. The example of the “Great Naturalisation” policy implemented in Brazil in 1891 provides a clear example of the circumstances in which Italian migrants automatically obtained the Brazilian citizenship and lost their Italian citizenship (Rosoli 1986). Brazil was one of many countries that found difficulties in dealing with Italian citizenship regulations. The controversial regulations between sending countries and receiving countries in granting citizenship rights created complicated relations between Brazil and all European countries that followed the ius sanguinis principle. The different approaches in granting citizenship rights highlighted the problem of the recognition of citizenship rights for Italians descendants living in foreign countries and the possibility for them to reacquire the Italian citizenship when it was lost. The problem of the reacquisition of citizenship rights was discussed by Italian institutions initially from a cultural perspective. At that time, Italian policy makers were concerned about migrants’ cultural disaffection towards their country of origin that the loss of Italian citizenship could have caused (Zincone 2006). Despite different approaches and regulations in receiving countries around the world, Italian policy makers never renounced the strong bond with Italian communities overseas. The result, a detailed policy, had to be implemented to regulate the acquisition of citizenship rights, including voting rights.

7.2.2 The implementation of the first citizenship policy

In the ninetieth century, Italy did not have a clear approach towards a citizenship policy designed to regulate the status of migrants. The regulation of citizenship had been firstly introduced in 1865 in the new Civil Code, however, the regulation appeared to be inappropriate to deal with migration waves that were affecting the country (Tintori 2006). The lack of regulation became an issue due to the different approaches between sending and receiving countries. For this reason, Italian

165 institutions realised there was a need to regulate the acquisition and transmission of Italian citizenship to safeguard Italian migrants. In 1908, representatives of Italians residing abroad met in Rome for their first Congress. The main request made by participants at the congress regarded the implementation of a law to regulate citizenship and to facilitate the reacquisition of Italian citizenship for those migrants who had to renounce it (Pastore 2004). Maintaining connections with Italian communities abroad became an issue that was also highlighted by Delegate Grippo in a parliamentary session in 1912. The Delegate clearly stated that it was a time for Italy to deal with the dilemma of citizenship (Atti Parliamentari 1912 in Pastore 2004). Italy had to choose between the integration of Italians in the countries of residency and the maintenance of a clear Italian identity amongst Italians residing overseas. According to Pastore (2004) policy makers at that time identified migrants as a resource for the young and economically fragile Italy. The country needed to gain some relevance in the international political arena and Italians living abroad could help Italy to create a new image for the country globally. In 1912 the first citizenship law was finally approved (law 555/1912). The principle of ius sanguinis was maintained as the core principle in the transmission of Italian citizenship to descendants. However, the law allowed minors to keep dual citizenship until the age of 18. When turning 18 years of age, Italian citizens had to “choose” one of the two citizenships, choosing between the citizenship of the country of residency or the citizenship of their country of origin. Moreover, this new policy stated that Italians could lose their Italian citizenship only through a voluntary action. Italians had the possibility to reacquire their citizenship after two years of residency in the Italian territory to overcome the issue caused by citizenship policies implemented in receiving countries. This policy helped to maintain a strong connection with Italian transnational communities, allowing migrants to transmit Italian citizenship to descendants and, at the same time, reacquire it if needed. According to Zincone (2006), this law also wanted to facilitate return migration of Italians. The attempt made by the Italian institutions with the law 555/1912 was later criticised to be too protective in the “preservation and recovery of Italian nationality” (Quadri 1959). Despite the criticisms, the Italian approach was not questioned for many years. However, with the new migration waves that affected the country during and after the

166 two World Wars, the Italian approach based on the ius sanguinis principle came under great scrutiny.

7.2.3 Bilateral agreement and the advent of the dual citizenship practice

The core principles of the law successfully survived Fascism even though some changes were made during the dictatorship (Tintori 2006). Law 108/1926 was introduced to revoke Italian citizenship to Italian citizens living abroad that acted against the interests of the fascist regime. In the same year Mussolini introduced another law to facilitate the reacquisition of the Italian citizenship for those Italians who renounced it in favour of an overseas citizenship. In 1935, another change was made to citizenship law to allow the government to grant the Italian citizenship at its completely discretion. Despite these changes, Fascism was unable to alter the structure of the citizenship law. However, many countries of destination affected by the Italian emigration waves structured their citizenship policies on the ius soli principle, allowing migrants and future generations of Italians to obtain the citizenship of the country of residency. In order to face the recurrent issue, after the implementation of law 555/1912, Italy took a step forward in the regulation of citizenship rights for Italian migrants. Italy signed bilateral agreements with receiving countries like Argentina (law 282/1973) for the implementation of dual citizenship. These bilateral agreements helped to solve the issue of conflicting policies allowing migrants to keep both citizenships. Apart from a few bilateral agreements, the Italian citizenship policy survived almost a century without any major revisions. The citizenship law implemented in 1912 survived the monarchical period, the Fascist dictatorship and the republican era until a new revision process was finalised with the implementation of the new law in 1992.

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7.2.4 Current Italian citizenship policy

Law 91/1992, currently regulating the Italian citizenship subject, maintained the principle of ius sanguinis for the acquisition and transmission of the Italian citizenship. The regulations signed for bilateral agreements and other modifications voted over the years such as the recognition of dual citizenship rights, the transmission of citizenship favouring family ties and the introduction of gender rights in the transmission of citizenship were included in the new citizenship policy. The recognition of gender equality, for instance, was also recognised from a citizenship perspective as a result of the introduction of the gender equality principle in the Italian Constitution in 1948. Article 3 of the Constitution states there must not be discriminations based on race, language, religious, political, social or gender. Following this article, in 1975 the Constitutional Court judged citizenship law 555/1912 unconstitutional. As a result, since 1975, Italian women could keep their own citizenship even when married to men of other nationalities. In 1983 another change was voted in the policy, allowing women to transmit their Italian citizenship to their children. This new policy raised the problem of dual citizenship for children who had parents of different nationalities. All these modifications made over the years were incorporated into law 91/1992. The issue of dual citizenship was finally solved with the new policy in 1992, allowing Italian citizens to keep dual or multiple nationalities. However, dual citizenship already existed based on specific bilateral agreement signed in previous years. The new policy incorporated the bilateral agreements. Moreover, the new citizenship law regulated the reacquisition of Italian citizenship for Italian descendants. Allowing Italian descendants to obtain Italian citizenship has become one of the most debated issues in current times. As Pastore (2004) highlighted, over the years the numerous requests for reacquisition of Italian citizenship have raised some concerns about the interest Italian descendants have in the Italian citizenship. Many people living overseas have claimed Italian backgrounds to obtain Italian passports even though their Italian background has been hard to prove. Despite the controversy on the reacquisition of the Italian citizenship and the debate about on the legitimacy of the principle of ius sanguinis, Italy has not shown any intension to reconsider the policy.

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While policy makers considered the ius sanguinis principle the valid criterion based on Italian history, academics have widely criticised the approach adopted by Italy. The current policy has been described by Gallo and Tintori (2006: 111) as an ethnic law that fosters the maintenance of blood connections with Italian overseas rather than facilitating the integration of the new migrants living in the Italian territory. As Zincone (2006) highlighted, Italian citizenship is considered a family matter and citizenship can only be transmitted by generational connections. This principle appears dated also based on the new European tendency in facilitating the acquisition of the citizenship rights following the ius soli principle. In recent times, the implementation of the expatriate voting policy (law 459/2001), the increasing number of Italians residing permanently overseas together with the increasing presence of migrants relocating to Italy, reopened the debate on the citizenship law. The regulation regarding the transmission of citizenship and the legitimacy of granting full citizenship rights to second and third generation Italians living abroad have also been in the spot light and policy makers have taken some interest.

7.3 Dual citizenship and the “Ancestor Hunt”

The evolution of the debate on the expatriate voting policy directly involves the acquisition and transmission of citizenship rights, including political rights. Due to the connections between expatriate voting and citizenship policies, issues on transmission of citizenship rights have been discussed with policy makers involved in this study. Indeed, connections with Italian migrants have developed over the years with the transmission of citizenship rights though generations. The transmission of Italian citizenship is one of the most important elements that had repercussion not only on the policy which regulates the acquisition of citizenship rights but also on the expatriate voting system. Before investigating the current debate on the acquisition of citizenship rights, policy makers have discussed the evolution of the citizenship policy in the Italian context.

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7.3.1 Dual citizenship and citizens’ loyalty

Policy makers interviewed for this research have firstly provided their interpretation on the historical motivations in order to comprehend the current Italian citizenship law and the pillars of this policy. The former President of the Constitutional Court Valerio Onida focuses his attention on the justification used at the time to support the Italian approach on the transmission of citizenship. According to Onida (2014) the citizenship policy was implemented following the ius sanguinis principle to maintain a strong bond with Italian citizens living overseas. The former president of Constitutional Court again highlighted the importance of the bond between the home country and its migrants. This bond between Italian migrants and Italy was further demonstrated in the years that followed with the introduction of dual citizenship in the Italian legislation in 1992. Despite the resistance demonstrated by countries previously, in the mid-nineties the implementation of dual citizenship became accepted in Italy as well as worldwide. Sergio Romano, former Italian ambassador, recalls:

Fifty years ago, when I started working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dual citizenship was highly discouraged, sometimes prohibited, because the common idea was that people could be only loyal to one nation and no more than one at the same time; nowadays this is considered old philosophy: passport has lost the ideal value and has become a working tool (Romano 2014).

According to Brøndsted Sejersen (2008), 115 countries around the world have implemented dual citizenship policies, proving that many states have changed their perception of dual citizenship practices. Globalisation trends and people movement have forced countries to reconsider the concept of citizenship and loyalty, softening their approach towards the acquisition of more than one citizenship. This new approach has also facilitated the acceptance of dual citizenship in Italy; it is no longer considered a threat to the loyalty of citizens but supported as a new vision for a more globalised idea of national belonging. Despite the current acceptance of dual citizenship policies, the Italian citizenship policy has come under recent scrutiny.

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7.3.2 Advantages in obtaining an Italian passport

Over the past decades, the pillars of the Italian citizenship policy have generated much criticism in the political arena, especially the transmission of citizenship by blood ties with no generational limitation. The number of applications from abroad for obtaining the Italian citizenship has been increasing over the years, creating an always- larger transnational community. This tendency has fostered discontent among those policy makers that are more aware of the possible consequences of this new trend. Many political parties’ members and members of Italian institutions have started to raise their concerns about the current policy and the indefinite growth if Italian citizens abroad. Norberto Lombardi, a long time consultant of the centre left parties who worked for parties like La Margherita and Partito Democratico (PD), states: “Italian citizenship law does not hold water; it is extremely permissive. I keep saying that citizenship should not be considered a right but a concession a country gives to individuals. Nobody should be able to say ‘my great-great-grandfather had Italian blood’” (Lombardi 2014). In other words, Lombardi criticises the ease with which Italian descendants, following the ius sanguinis principle, are able to obtain the Italian citizenship based on the presence of an Italian ancestor somewhere in their family tree. This appears to be the most critical issue in the acquisition of the Italian citizenship according to most of the interviewees. Most political parties in parliament have recognised this phenomenon and it has become a matter of concern for all parties. The transmission of Italian citizenship is considered an issue also for Forza Italia members. As Dario Rivolta, former Forza Italia MP, noted: “Why should a person, who is a third generation Italian and does not speak the Italian language, have the Italian passport? In Latin America people apply for the Italian citizenship to access to the European Union [without a visa] and potentially to move to Spain or even the U.S.A” (Rivolta 2014). The current Italian citizenship policy has served people around the world with Italian background to obtain an Italian passport. Most of these Italian descendants, however, do not apply to obtain the Italian passport to become Italian citizens for a “genuine” interest (Tarli Barbieri 2007). Many apply for ulterior motives such as entering the European Union without a visa and the possibility to relocate in the EU.

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Giuliano Amato, former Prime Minister and current member of the Constitutional Court, shares the negative attitude towards the current citizenship policy. According to the former PM, Italy should be more careful in granting Italian citizenship: “Many apply to obtain a passport to access the Schengen area” (Amato 2014). In recognising the lack of interest in becoming actively part of the Italian community, Amato suggests Italy should review the current policy in order to stop the phenomenon that he defines the “great grandfather hunt” (Amato 2014). Based on the ius sanguinis principle, in order to obtain Italian citizenship, people with Italian descendants need to recreate their genealogical tree with the support of Italian institutions (consulates and embassies) to provide some evidence of their true Italian background. There are no further requirements that Italian descendants need to meet apart from the “blood” connections. As many policies makers highlight, some second and third generation Italians are not interested in becoming actively part of the Italian transnational community but they see in the Italian citizenship policy an opportunity to obtain an Italian passport. It should be highlighted that this phenomenon is not new in the literature even though policy makers seem to finally acknowledge the phenomenon. Tarli Barbieri (2007) already identified this opportunistic phenomenon of second and third generation Italians years ago but policy makers have only recently started to discuss these issues. The exploitation of the policy by many Italian descendants living outside Italian borders has fostered the sentiment in favour of a policy revision.

7.4 Citizenship and citizenship rights

In the early 1990s Italian policy makers did not see any issues or injustice in implementing a policy that followed the ius sanguinis principle together with the inclusion of dual citizenship. In recent times, however, politicians have been reconsidering the citizenship policy in light of an evidently opportunistic tendency in obtaining Italian nationality. Major concerns among policy makers are created by the set of citizenship rights that second and third generations of Italians obtain with the acquisition of the Italian citizenship. The possibility for more people to obtain the Italian citizenship extends to the acquisition of civil, social and political rights. Policy makers have recognised the issue as former ambassador Sergio Romano stresses: “The problem is the fact that there are

172 rights connected in having a passport and this is the reason why we should pay attention” (Romano 2014). For instance, in the Italian case, social rights linked to citizenship provide great benefits for those who become Italians, even though they are not genuinely interested in becoming actively part of the Italian transnational community. In providing a practical example, Amato recalls the case of Italian citizens living in Argentina: “I remember in the years when the inflation was terrifying, those Argentineans who became Italian citizens used to receive 500,000 liras as pension: they were well-off. However, they had nothing to do with Italy” (Amato 2014). Amato provides this example to support his argument on the generosity of the policy and the advantages to those who are entitled to apply for the Italian citizenship gain in obtaining the Italian citizenship. Policy makers are currently discussing the issue and the consequences caused by the generous citizenship policy. Forza Italia Senator Lucio Malan agrees the generosity of the policy has become a problem for Italy and this issue needs to be seriously considered (Malan 2014). At a time of economic difficulty, policy makers consider the citizenship policy as too permissive and, according to them, limits should be implemented when granting full citizenship rights. At the moment, however, the Italian welfare system provides support for every citizen as set out in the Constitution with no distinction between Italians in Italy and Italians living abroad. As a result, Italian citizens living abroad have the right to obtain the pension as part of their citizenship rights despite their permanent residency in a foreign country20. The controversial situation together with economic struggles in Italy have also fostered the idea to include some limitation in the acquisition of citizenship and to consider a possible distinction between Italians in Italy and Italians overseas. This aspect will be discussed later in the chapter.

20 In Italy the pension system is regulated by the central government that guarantees a minimum pension salary to all Italians who reach the pension age, including Italians living permanently abroad. See http://www.inps.it/portale/default.aspx?lastMenu=9467.

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7.4.1 Political and voting rights

As was mentioned, political rights are also included in the set of citizenship rights and this is the most important aspect of the investigation in this research. Before the implementation of the expatriate voting policy, Italians residing abroad had to return to their local district if they wanted to vote in the elections. Since 2001 however, Italian citizens of age who live permanently overseas and are registered can elect their own representatives for the Italian parliament. With the creation of the foreign constituency and the implementation of law 459/2001, Italians living permanently abroad obtained full active and passive electoral rights. Since 2001 Italians residing permanently overseas can elect and be elected within the foreign constituency to represent the interest of the Italian transnational community in the Italian parliament. The combination of the expatriate voting policy and citizenship policy has generated many concerns among policy makers because of the interconnection of the two policies and their political consequences. The acquisition of political rights for second and third generation Italians has a significant impact on the expatriate voting system. Over the last decades, the overseas electorate has been increasing due to the increasing number of Italians relocating to foreign countries. As Romano explains: “The citizenship law has enormously extended the right to vote from overseas because citizenship is given with excessive generosity and, as a result, we have created a population of potential voters” (Romano 2014). Unfortunately, Italian institutions do not provide any official national data about the composition of the overseas electorate in terms of first, second or third generation of voters. However, the number of participants in the elections from overseas has not increased since the implementation of the expatriate voting policy in 2001 despite the always increasing number of requests to obtain the Italian citizenship from abroad. Since 2005 the number of Italians officially registered at the AIRE has increased reaching more than 4,6 million Italians residing permanently abroad. This data refers to either those Italians who relocated permanently overseas or those who obtain the Italian citizenship from abroad. In the first case, Italians who relocate overseas have to voluntarily register on the AIRE register while, in the second case, Italians born overseas are automatically included in the electoral lists when obtaining the Italian

174 passport. The large presence of Italians overseas, the acquisition of the Italian citizenship for many Italian descendants and the resulting enlargement of the Italian electorate overseas have fostered the idea of the need to set boundaries to limit the acquisition of Italian citizenship.

7.4.2 Boundaries for the transmission of citizenship rights

In 2014, the centre-left party Partito Democratico (PD) submitted a proposal that included provisions to limit the transmission of Italian citizenship. Despite keeping the ius sanguinis as the core principle for citizenship acquisition, the party identified the “nonno” (grandfather) as the limit to consider for a legitimate acquisition of the Italian citizenship. Micheloni, PD Senator elected in the foreign constituency for the European district, explains the rationale of the proposal: “Our goal is to pass the reform by the end of the year and the fundamental point in our proposal is called nonno (grandfather). Citizenship will be granted to those who can prove their grandfather had Italian citizenship” (Micheloni 2014).21 It should be highlighted that, according to the current legislation, men and women can transmit the Italian citizenship to their descendants so the limit will include both grandparents. If this proposal is implemented, Italian descendants will inherit the Italian citizenship only proving that one grandparent in the family is an Italian citizen, no matter the gender of the grandparent. Fedi, MP elected in the foreign constituency for PD in the Africa-Asia-Oceania- Antarctica (AAOA) district, also support Micheloni’s statement about this proposal: “My personal opinion together with other colleagues is to limit the recognition of Italian citizenship not beyond the second or third generation” (Fedi 2014). Including boundaries in the current policy will reduce the opportunistic actions taken by some Italian decedents living overseas to obtain the Italian passport. This proposal should not find many obstacles from the centre-right coalition since Forza Italia policy makers, such as Rivolta and Malan, have also criticised the trend of Italian descendants to obtain the Italian citizenship. In agreement with the left wing party members,

21 The interview was conducted in June 2014. Despite the previsions, the proposal has not been approved yet and it is still under discussion in Parliament.

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Rivolta suggests: “citizenship rights should be granted maximum to second generation Italians” (Rivolta 2014). It should be noted, however, that policy makers are not reconsidering the core principle of the ius sanguinis included in the citizenship regulation. Policy makers have identified as the core problem the limitless transmission and reacquisition of citizenship rights. Despite the new trend among European nations in reviewing their policies in favour of the principle of the ius soli (Zincone 2006), Italy maintains a very conservative approach in the recognition of citizenship rights, giving priority to “direct blood connections” above all. Partito Democratico (PD) is not the only party in parliament that has considered a revision of the law. MP Alessandro Di Battista of Five Star Movement (M5S) indicates that his movement has also been working to submit a proposal to regulate citizenship rights for Italian descendants (Di Battista 2014). The Five Star Movement has been considering a different approach in revising the policy. Di Battista explains: “Our goal is to identify a norm that can foster a process of informed acquisition of citizens’ rights and duties” (Di Battista 2014). This statement highlights the issue of insufficient interest demonstrated by many “new Italians” living overseas in participating in the political and social life of their country of origin. For this reason, the Five Star Movement would like to introduce new procedures to grant citizenship to Italian descendants living abroad. However, the Movement did not specify which method they consider appropriate for an informed acquisition of the Italian citizenship and the proposal has not been submitted to parliament yet. Despite the recognition of the problem and the bipartisan agreement on the changes in favour of a more restrictive policy as demonstrated in the research, political parties have not yet implemented any changes. According to the Senate Archives (2016), in the current legislature 45 proposals have been submitted in the Chamber of Deputies and 26 proposals in the Senate in regard to citizenship issues.22 In September 2015, Parliament began discussions on a new text for the citizenship law which is continuing. At the time of the interview in June 2014, Norberto Lombardi, PD consultant, described the discussion on the reform of the citizenship policy as stagnant:

22 The increasing number of proposals submitted in parliament is also there result of the increasing presence of immigrants in Italy. As a consequence, policy makers have tried to reconsidered the ius sanguinis principle. These proposals include amendments on the current citizenship law that could affect Italian descendants and immigrants in Italy.

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“MPs pretend they are working on it but my impression is they have not made progress in leaps and bounds” (Lombardi 2014). Despite the interest demonstrated by political parties over the last few years, no progress has been made. The citizenship policy appears to be a controversial policy where changes are difficult to implement. Proposals for a change could backfire on political parties that receive political support from overseas and this is a risk many policy makers do not want to take. Some policy makers also believe the changes, such as the inclusion of boundaries in the citizenship transmission, are weak. These policy makers, who criticised political parties’ actions, would like to see a more significant revision of the citizenship law. They believe more radical changes should be introduced in the acquisition of the Italian citizenship for Italian descendants living overseas, starting from a revision of the citizenship acquisition process (Amato 2014, Romano 2014).

7.5 The legitimacy of the political participation from overseas

The issue of citizens’ loyalty raised during the debate for the implementation of the dual citizenship did not become an obstacle for the final inclusion of dual citizenship in the policy. However, the problem of political loyalty of emigrants appears to be an issue that has not been fully overcome. In the Italian system, citizenship rights granted to Italian descendants includes political rights. Over the years, granting political rights to Italian citizens living overseas has become an issue strictly discussed in relation to the acquisition of citizenship. Many scholars have debated whether the political participation of the transnational communities in the elections of the country of origin should be considered legitimate (Bauböck 2005, Lopez-Guerra 2005, Lafleur 2013, Owen 2010). The arguments made in the scholarly debate for or against these policies include many possible scenarios and consider the problem of legitimacy of the participation from overseas. Despite the attempt to provide a valid general explanation and response to the phenomenon, the Italian political events of 2006 have not been considered by scholars as a potential scenario. In 2006 Italian emigrants determined the political future of the country of origin, causing a great deal of interest in the role of Italian migrants in the domestic politics in the political and academic debate.

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Over the years some scholars came to the conclusion that citizens residing abroad should not be included in the electoral process because they will not be affected by policies the elected government of the country of origin will implement (Weale 1999, Rubio Marin 2006). In the Italian political debate, these arguments have been supported only by policy makers who are not directly involved in the electoral process. While political parties have rejected any type of differentiation between citizens that could exclude citizens living abroad from the electoral process, members of Italian institutions have started to promote a new discussion to redefine the criteria for the acquisition of citizenship rights and the participation in the elections from abroad.

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7.5.1 Voting rights by residency

Citizenship and voting rights have been always linked in the Italian citizenship discussion. Furthermore, the Italian Constitution and the citizenship policy have never differentiated between Italians in Italy and Italians overseas in the acquisition of citizenship rights. In recent times, however, some policy makers have been discussing whether this bond could be reconsidered and whether citizenship rights could be differentiated based on the residency status. This idea, embraced by some policy makers, finds support in the academic literature and in the implementation of citizenship policies in other countries. Beckman (2006), for instance, highlights that citizenship rights and voting rights should be considered separately and not as a whole. In the Italian context, the question whether second and third generation Italians, who are entitled to become Italian citizens following the ius sanguinis principle, should also obtain full voting rights has been discussed. Amato offers his opinion on the matter and his idea appears to be shared by other policy makers:

I strongly believe citizenship should not be a basket of same rights in any situation. Citizenship is a status for sure. However, it is not required to establish how many rights it should contain once for all. It is not necessarily true that ‘one size fits all’. We could possibly consider a type of Italian citizenship which does not guarantee voting rights in certain circumstances (Amato 2014).

The limitation in granting political rights to Italian descendants could have great benefit in the management of the transnational community. The census of the electorate in the foreign constituency and the voting process from abroad could be improved with fewer people involved in the electoral process in the foreign constituency. The solution offered by Amato could certainly change the perceptions of citizenship in Italy. This new approach could also solve some of the issues related to the acquisition of citizenship rights that have been discussed earlier in the chapter. Including some boundaries in the acquisition of citizenship rights by Italian descendants living abroad could limit the impact on Italian institutions and on the Italian budget.

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Romano shares the view of Amato in regard to the limitation of voting rights for Italians residing abroad. Both policy makers agree that voting rights should be allowed based on the residency principle: “I think a limitation of voting rights based on the residency principle should be included” (Romano 2014). Amato and Romano consider residency the most important criterion that should be taken into account for granting voting rights. This option finds ground in the political experiences of many countries around the world. There are many examples where countries have included limitations in granting (or temporarily suspending) voting rights to their citizens living permanently overseas based on residency. Canada implemented this restriction in July 2015, limiting access to voting rights for those Canadians who reside abroad for more than five years (Globe and Mail 2015). U.K., Australia and New Zealand have also included limitations in their policies. Often political rights can be retrieved as soon as citizens of these countries return to their country of origin. If Italy decides to follow the principle of residency, voting rights could be suspended for those who have never lived in Italy (Italian descendants) or who have been overseas for more than a specific time. Even though suspending voting rights appears to be a practice that Italian policy makers have not considered in the past, the popularity of the policy in other countries together with the influence of some policy makers could become a turning point for the evolution of the Italian citizenship policy. Despite the rationale of the policy and the success of this system in other nations, granting voting rights in relation to citizens’ residency is not favoured by all political parties. According to some, reconsidering the process to obtain citizenship rights appears controversial and discriminatory. MP Garavini, elected in the foreign constituency for PD explains: “In my opinion voting rights should be guaranteed to all Italian citizens” (Garavini 2014). The issue that strikes political parties the most is that granting voting rights following the residency criterion could facilitate the creation of two different categories of Italians: first class and second class Italians. Marino, manager of Italians in the World Office for Partito Democratico (PD), also agrees with Garavini and insists that this option is not applicable unless policy makers agree to change the Constitution to differentiate Italians based on their residency and to introduce limitations in voting rights (Marino 2014). It should be noted that Garavini and Marino are from the same political party. However, some parties recognise the importance of putting some boundaries in granting political rights like Forza Italia

180 members. According to Forza Italia members, limitations in the acquisition of citizenship rights to Italian decedents should be included rather than creating different categories of Italian citizenship based on residency (Malan 2014, Rivolta 2014). The argument used by PD members to reject the idea of limiting voting rights to emigrants and their descendants is in conflict with the current Italian regulation whereby some policies already suspend citizenship rights for Italian citizens living permanently in foreign countries. These rights that have been suspended are mostly social rights. The Italian system provides free health cover for all holders of Italian citizenship. However, this right is suspended for those Italians who live permanently abroad. This right can be fully retrieved when Italians return permanently at home or temporarily retrieved when Italian citizens return to Italy for up to 90 days (Ministero della Salute 2016). This limitation of rights for Italians living overseas appears not to be a matter of discrimination since this practice is already implemented for a specific set of rights. It is interesting, however, how limitations in granting voting rights is considered a discriminatory action from political parties’ perspective. While members of institutions support a substantial reconsideration of the citizenship policy in light of the issues related the citizenship regulation, members of parliament appear to be more careful in limiting access to voting rights for Italians living abroad due to the benefits gained in the elections. The limitation of voting rights for emigrants would cause a significant reduction of the electorate living abroad and this hypothesis could ever raise the very need for a foreign constituency and the representation of the transnational community in parliament.

7.6 Reacquisition of citizenship

The limitation of citizenship rights for Italian citizens living abroad had been obstructed by those policy makers who still strongly support the ius sanguinis principle and by political parties that have some electoral benefits in maintaining the expatriate voting system. The representatives of Italians living abroad, for instance, are strongly in favour of the ius sanguinis principle. They have actively demonstrated their support through their parliamentary activities to help Italians to reacquire their Italian citizenship and they have reaffirmed their ideas during the interviews conducted for this research. As was illustrated at the beginning of the chapter, the reacquisition of the citizenship is an issue that many Italians had to face as a

181 consequence of the forced loss of Italian citizenship due to the regulation of countries in which they relocated. The reacquisition of citizenship has been mostly supported by the representatives of Italians residing abroad elected in the foreign constituency. Some MPs and Senators in this group still support the core principles followed by the current policy and they are in favour of maintaining a strong connection between Italy and Italian communities living abroad. For instance, Francesca La Marca, MP elected in the North America district for PD, states her idea on the current policy clearly and explains the commitment the representatives elected in the foreign constituency have to help Italians living abroad to reobtain their Italian citizenship: “I do not believe the Italian citizenship law is too generous; I think we should make this practise easier for those Italians who live abroad and want to obtain Italian citizenship for many reasons. I think Italy should do its best to facilitate the acquisition of Italian citizenship” (La Marca 2014). The positive view of the current citizenship policy is shared by other MPs and Senators elected in the foreign constituency, especially on the matter of the reacquisition of Italian citizenship. MP Nissoli, elected in North America in the foreign constituency in the list of Per L’Italia, also agrees that policy makers should take into consideration those who lost their Italian citizenship against their will due to their relocation in foreign countries (Nissoli 2014). The MP refers to those cases in which people had to decide between two citizenships. However, this issue represents only one of the cases in which Italians lost their Italian citizenship. Another issue that has been identified by the representatives elected in the foreign constituency concerns the transmission of Italian citizenship for women (Giacobbe 2014, Micheloni 2014). Before the introduction of the current citizenship law, women who married a non- Italian citizen automatically lose their Italian citizenship. As a result, these women could not keep and transmit the Italian citizenship to their children. A third problem identified by the representatives of Italians living overseas is the reacquisition of Italian citizenship for Italians descendants who used to live in the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Apparently, these descendants did not have the possibility to apply for the Italian citizenship since 2010 and MPs elected on the PD list are working on this case to re-open discussion regarding this decision (Fedi newsletter 2015).

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The issues identified by the representatives of Italian communities abroad are the result of previous citizenship policies that have been modified over the years. Changes have been implemented to safeguard the maintenance of the Italian citizenship for Italian migrants, however, some Italians were “lost”. The current attempt of MPs and Senators to support the reacquisition of Italian citizenship can be interpreted as a genuine interest towards this group of migrants. At the same time, a major discrepancy should be highlighted. On the one hand, MPs and Senators still demonstrate interest in helping Italian descendants to reacquire the Italian citizenship based on their Italian background, maintaining a place in a system based on the ius sanguinis principle. On the other hand, political parties appear to be working on implementing restrictions and to change the approach in the transmission of citizenship rights between generations with the proposal of limiting the transmission of Italian citizenship using grandparents as the limit. Moreover, the problem of reacquisition appears to be an anachronistic debate. In recent times, the debate on citizenship rights has been evolving towards the inclusion of boundaries in granting citizenship rights to Italian descendants and towards the adoption of the principle of the ius soli to break the blood tradition. The requests made by this group of policy makers raises the question whether Italian policy makers will be able to change the approach to the citizenship policy, renouncing blood ties, an important characteristic of the Italian tradition. The Italian parliament has been discussing the adoption of the ius soli principle for a new citizenship law, in part also to facilitate the acquisition of Italian citizenship for migrants who are living in Italy. Even though this aspect is not part of this research, it is necessary to highlight the importance of the discussion regarding inclusion of ius soli in the Italian citizenship policy to understand the opposing scenarios on the future citizenship policy. The divergent opinions affecting the debate on citizenship issues impact negatively on the identification of the criteria to be followed for a new citizenship policy. It is interesting to note the argument made by the MPs Farina, Fedi, Garavini, La Marca, Porta and Tacconi to justify their support for the reacquisition of citizenship for those who lost it. In explaining why Italy never wanted to face the reacquisition of citizenship issues, MPs state that Italian institutions did not want to find a solution earlier mostly due to economic reasons (Fedi Newsletter 2015). According to this group of MPs and senators, granting citizenship rights to those who lost them would

183 involve further costs for Italy. Because of the economic crisis impaction on Italy, granting citizenship to more people would have caused the extension of citizenship rights to more people living abroad. This decision would have weighted on Italian finances. However, according to these MPs, Italy has experienced an economic upturn and now the country is ready to grant Italian citizenship rights to those who lost them or those who have never been able to obtain them (Fedi Newsletter 2015). The request by this group of MPs demonstrates strong divergent opinions about who should be entitled to Italian citizenship and the related social, civic and political rights. Despite the positive interpretation of the current economic situation in Italy, economic reasons appear to be the primary factors fostering debate about the generosity of current citizenship policy. According to Lombardi, extending citizenship rights to Italian descendants is a practise that Italy can no longer afford as indicated by some policy makers (Lombardi 2014). Economic factors also appear to influence the concept of legitimacy and, for this reason, the reacquisition of citizenship could be obstructed. There are no doubts policy makers are having serious difficulties in finding a clear direction to redefine the policy and to eventually set boundaries in the acquisition of Italian citizenship.

7.7 Conclusion

The transmission of citizenship rights in Italy appears to be a Pandora’s box that policy makers refrained from opening for many decades. As Scotto, MP of Sinistra Ecologia e Liberta’ (SEL), notes: “compared to other European states, Italy is the country that discusses citizenship least” (Scotto 2014). For decades, policy makers have ignored the issue of transmission of citizenship rights to Italian descendants living overseas and the enlargement of the Italian transnational community. With the implementation of the expatriate voting policy, however, granting political rights to Italian citizens living abroad has started a new debate on the acquisition of citizenship rights and on the legitimacy of the transmission of them. However, only some policy makers discuss the issue of the transmission of citizenship rights in term of legitimacy. Members of Italian institutions have recognised the opportunistic factors involved in the acquisition of Italian citizenship and have suggested the implementation of a new policy, limiting voting rights based on residency. Political parties’ members,

184 however, reject this approach. Nevertheless, most policy makers agree the policy should be revised in light of the current socio-economic conditions Italy is facing. Because of the divergent opinions in parliament, a significant revision of the acquisition of citizenship rights seems unlikely. Italy seems not to be ready to reconsider the principle of ius sanguinis, the core principle of Italian citizenship policies. However, the issue of the transmission of citizenship and the acquisition of citizenship rights represents the core problem in the Italian expatriate voting framework. Once again, only an in depth discussion on the legitimacy of the transmission of citizenship rights could allow the emergence of a new scenario for the redefinition of the political role of the transnational community.

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CHAPTER 8

Conclusion

8.1 Introduction

This final chapter discusses the issues identified in the implementation of political transnationalism in Italy. The aim of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive discussion on the Italian expatriate voting system in light of the findings of the research. In this chapter, conclusions are drawn and recommendations made with the intent to provide a new perspective on the already existing literature on the phenomenon. The first part of the chapter discusses the reasons for the implementation of the expatriate voting policies and the drivers that have fostered the political engagement of Italian emigrants. In the second section, the evolution of the debate on the expatriate voting policy is discussed to understand whether the interest in transnational political participation has changed over the years and whether policy makers have changed their view towards the expatriate voting practice. The third part of the chapter discusses the issue of national and political identity and the importance of this dichotomy in the past and current understanding of the expatriate voting policy. The following sections look at the importance of citizenship and citizenship rights in the discussion of expatriate voting policies. The aim of these sections is to highlight the inconsistencies of the Italian debate on political participation from abroad starting from a complete absence of any discussion on the acquisition and transmission of citizenship rights. The final sections include the answers to the research questions that have guided the research, the contribution to knowledge, the limitation of the study and the further area of investigation in the expatriate voting studies.

8.2 Reasons for the implementation of the expatriate voting policy in Italy

For decades, the political engagement of Italian citizens residing abroad has been a matter of controversy in the Italian political arena. The lack of interest demonstrated

186 by Italian institutions towards citizens relocating abroad in the twentieth century became the most important driver in the discussion of expatriate voting policy. According to Bettinelli (1995), the sense of guilt and the need to redeem the image of a country that did not provide any support to its emigrant citizens became a crucial factor in the promotion of political transnationalism. However, the motivations that guided the implementation of the Italian expatriate voting system do not solely include a sense of guilt. The implementation of Italian political transnationalism has been characterised by an increasing inclusion of emigrants in the political life of the country creating, in recent times, a controversial scenario in which citizens abroad can play a crucial role in the future of the country of origin. According to the data, the sense of guilt developed by the Italian politicians for the carelessness demonstrated towards emigrants in the past was crucial in the discussion in the Italian parliament, picturing Italian emigrants, leaving Italy with a cardboard suitcase and no money in their pocket. However, it has been demonstrated that guilt toward Italian citizens living abroad was not the main reason why Italian policy makers decided to implement the expatriate voting policy. The policy for expatriate voting was supported in parliament by a small number of MPs and Senators, mostly as an opportunistic action that could have benefited their parties and personal careers, as in the case of Tremaglia and Berlusconi. Supporting the inclusion of emigrants in the political life of the country of origin soon became a matter of interest also for the centre-right party. The party realised that some electoral benefits could be gained from the inclusion of the transnational community in the domestic electoral system. Though Tremaglia was probably one of the few MPs in parliament who believed in the legitimacy of the participation of Italian emigrants in the political life of the sending country, promoting the expatriate voting policy in parliament also served his political career as a MP. Due to the political scenario in the late 1990s, Tremaglia and his party Alleanza Nazionale (AN) held the balance of power in parliament, making support of Tremaglia’ s party essential for Berlusconi’s coalition. In this scenario, the policy became the “currency of exchange” used to maintain a strong political coalition for the upcoming 2001 elections. The research and data collected demonstrate that the decision to support Tremaglia’s proposal of the expatriate voting policy and the creation of the foreign constituency was primarily an act of political opportunism and

187 electoral convenience by the major political parties. The centre-right coalition never liked the idea of a specifically-made constituency where emigrants voted for their own representatives. However, the expatriate voting policy became part of the terms of negotiation to maintain a solid domestic political scenario with no damages to image of the parties. Despite Berlusconi’s desire to maintain a strong centre-right coalition, implementing the expatriate voting policy was not an easy task. Data shows that policy makers encountered many difficulties in discussing the terms of the negotiation before finally endorsing the policy. Negotiations became even more challenging when the foreign constituency option was put on the table as the preferred method to express the electoral preferences from abroad. Including the notion of the foreign constituency in the Italian constitution forced all political parties to say their piece and required the agreement of most parties in parliament (66 per cent) as a hurdle requirement for constitutional change. Despite some initial disagreements on the method for merging the votes from abroad, the foreign constituency soon became an idea that found agreement among parties albeit for different reasons. The centre-right parties were able to maintain their promise to include the policy for which AN (Alleanza Nazionale) had fought for many years. The centre-left parties agreed to the creation of a specifically made constituency to collect the votes coming from abroad without losing credibility in parliament. The left parties also recognised the potential of the expatriate voting policy to help them gain political support from abroad. However, most of the discussions on political engagement of emigrants occurred behind closed doors and the decision in favour of expatriate voting was made by the leadership of the political parties, with very little or no involvement of Italian citizens living abroad. The initial idea of creating specific representation for Italians living abroad was mostly supported by members of the CGIE (Generale Council of Italians Abroad) in Europe who convinced Tremaglia of its importance in the Italian parliament. The influence of this small group of people was crucial, considering the successful result and the creation of this foreign constituency. At the same time, however, these representatives of Italians living abroad supported the implementation of the foreign constituency for what appeared to be personal gain, i.e. the hope of a seat in parliament in the future. However, after gaining Tremaglia’s support for the foreign constituency as the preferred electoral method, the group was left out of the

188 negotiations of the transnational community’s engagement in the years when the bipartisan agreement was reached. Political dynamics started to play a major role in the development of the policy, leaving the representatives of Italian communities with no active role at the negotiation table. Despite the initial uncertainty over the implementation of the foreign electoral constituency, some policy makers saw an opportunity for Italian citizens living abroad to be part of the electoral system. Recognising the potential of emigrants’ political engagement, the centre left coalition also realised that limitations on the expatriate voting system were required to avoid overseas votes impacting on other domestic electoral results. As the literature demonstrates, the implementation of the foreign electoral constituency was constructed in such a way as to avoid any sort of contamination of votes from abroad and votes from domestic electoral districts (Collyer & Vathi 2007, Hutchenson & Arrighi 2015). Even though the foreign constituency was criticised and labelled as being a “vote reservation” by Sartori (2004), Italy’s most well known political scientist, policy makers agreed that the creation of a specifically-made constituency would limit the impact of votes from abroad. This was the most important agreement between political parties for the inclusion of the foreign constituency. Both the right and left in parliament agreed with the proposed law since it also offered both sides electoral gain. At the same time, however, some parties had concerns in regard to the legitimacy of the political inclusion of Italians living abroad, creating further difficulties during the negotiations. The governing coalition and the minority parties were eventually able to find a compromise to reach the two-third majority required to change the constitution and implement the foreign constituency in the Italian Constitution. The change of mind from the centre-left parties was especially significant. For decades, the centre-left wing parties had rejected the idea of including migrants in the electorate, promoting the concept that the emigrants were integrated in the host country. Moreover, the historical support of the migrant community during Fascism was considered by centre left parties one of the major reasons for their opposition to the involvement of Italian citizens living abroad in the elections (Cannistraro & Rosoli 1979). It was believed, until the first elections in 2006 disproved this theory, that citizens living abroad would normally support right wing parties. For this reason, centre-left wing showed no interest in the expatriate voting policy until the late 1990s,

189 when left wing parties, including the PCI, had to be redefined as a consequence of the end of the Cold War. The Italian left party experienced significant changes in the early 1990s, including a redefinition of the existing views on specific matters such as the role of emigrants. Eventually, the centre-left wing party changed its mind and voted for the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Italian constitution. The agreement between the major parties in parliament was reached primarily due to self-interest. The Italian experience challenges the idea set out by Demetriou (2003) and King and Melvin (1999) that emigrant communities usually play a fundamental role in lobbying the government of their countries of origin for the implementation of policies that can politically include expatriate communities. In the Italian case, emigrant communities were excluded with no involvement and potential influence on the political discussion of their participation from abroad. Apart from a small group of people that convinced Tremaglia of the validity of the foreign constituency, members of the committees for Italians living abroad were never involved in the discussion of the expatriate voting policy, especially in the last crucial years of the negotiations. Moreover, the Italian transnational committees at that time considered those who suggested the creation of the foreign constituency “fanatics”, support ing a system which pursued personal interests rather than the interests of the entire transnational community (Pascalis 2016). Parties’ opportunism appears to be the most significant driver in the implementation of the foreign constituency. At the same time, some community representatives of the transnational community already involved in Com.It.Es. and CGIE activities saw in the expatriate voting policy an opportunity to start a political career in parliament. This element of the discussion is crucial to understand the evolution or (non-evolution) of the discussion on the expatriate voting policy in Italy since the inclusion of permanent migrants in the electoral system of the home country in 2001.

8.3 Current debate on political transnationalism in Italy

Since the first election inclusive of participation of Italian transnational communities in 2006, many issues have been raised by policy makers in relation to the expatriate voting policy and the related electoral system. The impact of the votes coming from abroad generated concerns about the efficiency of the foreign

190 constituency in limiting the impact of votes in the overall electoral results. As demonstrated in previous chapters, policy makers from all parties have submitted numerous proposals to change the expatriate voting policy since 2007. The content of the proposals varies significantly, depending on the issues highlighted by policy makers in relation to the current policy. Analysing the content of the proposals it is possible to identify two main strategies policy makers tried to apply in the review of the policy. The first strategy has been adopted by those parties that are still in favour of the political inclusion of Italian expatriates; however, they recognise the gaps in the system implemented. In this case, policy makes have submitted proposals to reconsider postal voting, residency requirements for the candidates, the issue of the security of the voting system, the electoral registry of Italians living in foreign countries and the inclusion of Italians temporarily abroad. These issues represent the most relevant problems that MPs and Senators have identified to improve the current system. It is important to highlight these are technical issues that do not question the legitimacy of the political inclusion of emigrants. On the contrary, those political parties support the expatriate voting policy and wish improve the current system. The second strategy adopted by other policy makers aims for a complete reconsideration of the expatriate voting system. This group of policy makers supports the elimination of the expatriate voting policy and the foreign constituency. The elimination of the foreign constituency and of the expatriate voting system appears to be a political choice rather than a decision based on the issue of legitimacy. This request appears to be less popular amongst the proposals and it is mostly supported by MPs and Senators belonging to the centre-right parties. It is fair to say that most of the proposals submitted over the years have focused their attention mostly on the voting system and its mechanism rather than engaging in a more substantial debate on the legitimacy of the political participation of citizens living abroad. For instance, one of the most debated issues since 2007 was the electoral methods to cast votes from abroad. The discussion on the inclusion of emigrants in Italian political system has rarely considered the issue of the legitimacy of the political inclusion of citizens that no longer reside in the country of origin. Tremaglia, in his emotive speeches delivered in parliament to promote his policy proposal, justified the inclusion of expatriates in the political system as a deed to redeem the image of the country that left Italian emigrants

191 behind. Historical motivations, used by the MP to justify the proposal, were considered sufficient for all parties that did not question the legitimacy of the proposed system. According to Tremaglia, Italians living abroad had the right to participate in the Italian elections since there should not be any discriminations among citizens based on their residency. The centre-left parties had some doubts on the inclusion of emigrants as proposed by Tremaglia, political convenience played the major role, and, for this reason, the issue of legitimacy was not addressed. Three political elections and 15 years later, the debate on the engagement of emigrants in the Italian political system is still focusing on “how” Italians living overseas should vote from abroad rather than on the “why”. By looking at the current composition of the Italian transnational community, answering the question “why” Italian citizens living abroad should be permitted to vote in Italian elections is an issue policy makers have avoided to discuss for decades. Over time, scholars have discussed the legitimacy of political participation from abroad in light of different social, political and economic contexts (Bauböck 1999, Lopez-Guerra 2005, Lafleur 2008, Owen 2010). Scholars have supported the political engagement of migrants due to their socio-economic role in their homeland (Lopez Guerra 2005). For instance, remittances and economic support sent from emigrants to their families living in home countries were, and still are, the most important reason to justify the political participation of citizens living abroad In the case of Italy, the direct involvement in the domestic life of the country of origin by the transnational community has mutated over the years. During and after the world wars, citizens living abroad used to send remittances to support their families. In more recent times, the economic contribution of Italian citizens to their country of origin has been very limited or non-existent. Despite the GFC, Italy is still considered one of the strongest economies in Europe. Economic reasons are still a cause of emigration for individuals that look for better job opportunities in foreign countries. However, this reason has become a personal choice rather that a need due to the level of poverty in the home country (Armillei & Mascitelli 2016). Due to the current circumstances, the economic reasons and the contribution of emigrants to their country of origin alone cannot be a sufficient criterion to justify the political inclusion of the Italian transnational community.

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Another economic aspect that plays a role in the debate on the expatriate voting policy is the question of taxation. The motto of “no taxation without representation” has certainly served the interests of those in favour of expatriate voting policies (Beckman 2006). Despite the by-now old emigration history of the country, some Italians have still maintained connections with their country of origin, especially first generations emigrants. It is not rare to find emigrants still own property in Italy who are affected by taxation. According to some, this alone is a good enough reason to allow citizens living abroad to elect their representatives in parliament. Indeed, this is an example of economic contribution to the country of origin. The question, however, is whether this one instance can justify the representation of citizens in parliament since Italians who own properties in Italy are a limited number compared to the general Italian expatriate population. A second reason also identified in the literature to promote the inclusion of expatriates in the political system of the home country is the role played by the expatriate community in raising the profile of the country of origin in the host country (Lafleur 2013). Therefore, the view is that citizens living abroad are the most important “ambassadors” for the promotion of their country. Italian Fascism was the first to attempt exploitation of this type of relationship between emigrants and sending country. Mussolini believed in the crucial role of Italians abroad spreading Fascist ideas around the world. Today, the idea of emigrants as “ambassadors” of Italy has new a nuance. Some policy makers still consider the role of Italian citizens living in foreign countries deeply important in the promotion of the Italian image and the “made in Italy” branding (Cirielli 2014; Razzi 2014). For this reason, these policy makers argue that the cultural and economic benefits that emigrants contribute to Italy should be valued and recognised with their representation in parliament. The political engagement in the electoral system of home countries for citizens living abroad is considered to foster national identity (Smith & Guarnizo 1998, Vertovec 2004). In the view of some, political engagement is a method for maintaining a strong connection with citizens living abroad and for including emigrants in the home country political debate. This approach has drawn much criticism in the Italian context, questioning the efficiency of the current policy in nurturing connections between the country and the transnational community. Political engagement is certainly one of the methods to connect emigrants with their country of origin.

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However, the sense of belonging to a community and, in this case, to a specific country, should not be limited only to political inclusion. Engaging with transnational communities can be done in different ways. For instance, supporting the promotion of the language and culture of the country of origin in foreign countries is one of the most common options countries try to pursue with specific policies. Supporting cultural events to foster the connection between transnational communities and home country has been one area of investment for Italy with some successful outcomes over the decades. The same cannot be said for political participation from abroad. Over the years, participation has been decreasing as demonstrated by the data provided by the Italian Ministry of the Interior. Due to the decreasing trend, the question whether this system can be considered a successful method to foster Italian identity is posed. Most importantly, Italian institutions have never investigated whether Italian expatriate communities consider political participation the most appropriate method to support a process of reconnection with the country of origin. As such Italian policy makers have not been able to come to an agreement on when the political engagement of permanent expatriates and their descendants can be considered legitimate. Policy makers who are strongly in favour of the political engagement of Italians abroad, such as PD and AN, supported the idea that voting rights should be exercised by any Italian as stated in the constitution. For this reason, political participation from abroad should not be questioned, and this policy was an efficient system to engage with the transnational community. However, those policy makers who are against the current system, such as Forza Italia, justify the political inclusion of emigrants in light of a demonstrated political interest that citizens living abroad should exhibit. For this reason, granting voting rights to all Italian citizens living outside the Italian borders and allowing them to be represented in parliament without any demonstrated interest for the domestic politics is not appropriate, especially in those circumstances when Italian citizens do not have any intention in returning. The decrease in the electoral turnout over the years has further highlighted the possible lack of legitimacy of the current system. In the current scenario, there are only a few arguments that can justify the current expatriate voting system. Few political parties still support the Tremaglia approach towards emigrants. However, other political parties have started to reconsider the

194 expatriate voting in light of the recent emigration wave. Emigrants should be able to cast their vote if they are able to demonstrate any kind of connection with the country of origin. For this reason, electoral participation from abroad is supported for those emigrants that have relocated for a short period of time as temporary migrant. In this case, the definition of temporary migration needs to be provided. In some countries, the differentiation between temporary and permanent migration is crucial for the inclusion of non-resident citizens in the political life of the country of origin. For this reason, some nations have included a time limit after which people who live abroad are no longer entitled to participate in election. In this context, expatriate voting can be justified if the participation of migrants is based on an evident (temporal) link with the country of origin. While some policy makers agree with this idea, most policy makers do not like the idea of limiting political participation through the inclusion of a time frame. Despite the arguments used by political parties to justify of reject the current policy, this study shows that the discussion of the legitimacy of political engagement of permanent emigrants is focusing mostly on electoral turnout as an evidence of disengagement of emigrants from the Italian politics. While data on electoral turnout is important in proving a general trajectory of engagement of Italian citizens in the political life of the country of origin, the debate on expatriate voting among policy makers shows, once again, some limitation in addressing the core of the problem, i.e. the legitimacy of including permanent Italian citizens living abroad in the political life of the country of origin.

8.4 National identity and political identity

The political engagement of the Italian transnational community has been promoted as a method to foster the Italian identity of citizens living abroad by Tremaglia and his party. According to some policy makers, Italians abroad have nurtured their Italian identity across generations and the political engagement from abroad was the missing piece of the puzzle in the reconnection strategy implemented by the country. At the time of mass migration, Italians were able to maintain a very strong attachment to their national identity, creating strong Italian communities abroad. Italian mass emigration waves between the nineteenth and twentieth century saw the highest number of Italians relocating abroad. However, in those

195 circumstances, no form of political engagement had been put in place even though, at that time, Italy had a desire to politically engage the large Italian population who relocated overseas. The large number of Italian citizens relocating abroad could justify this kind of policies. Despite the lack of political engagement, history showed that Italian identity survived through generations without this political component. In the following thirty years, policy makers started to consider political engagement of Italians living abroad as the legitimate and best method to foster Italian identity in Italian emigrants, forging an association between national identity and political engagement. The assumption that guided the political debate at that time was that Italians abroad, in order to feel fully Italian, had to exercise their voting rights. The connection between political participation and Italian identity has been used as a justification to promote the policy, especially during the final implementation of the law. Nowadays, the discussion on political participation of expatriates has evolved thanks to new realisations on the role of the transnational community and the contribution Italians abroad can make in the domestic political arena. Policy makers argue whether the political participation of emigrants can be still considered the right approach to foster Italian identity within transnational community. The evolution of the debate demonstrates that the dichotomy of Italian identity/political participation has changed over the years, not as a consequence of the lobbying activities of the transnational community but as a result of the political agenda in Italy. During the first emigration waves, Italy did not look back and used migration as a “release valve” to restart the economy of a country that was struggling after the two world wars. Apart from the attempt made by Mussolini in reconnecting with Italian emigrants, the promotion of national identity and political rights were not a priority of the nation in the twentieth century. Moreover, the expatriate voting practice was not even considered as a possibility since dual citizenship was not allowed in most countries. Before the implementation of dual citizenship, generally Italian emigrants had to renounce their Italian citizenship and thus their political rights in the country of origin. For this reason, until the late 1980s Italians were encouraged to integrate in the country of residency, avoiding any connection with the country of origin, including political participation in the home country. The left wing party supported this approach which

196 rendered any bipartisan debate on the political participation of emigrants in Italy impossible. In the 1980s, for the first time, the concept of Italian identity started to overlap with political participation. Tremaglia created a strong link between the two concepts, promoting the Italian identity/political participation dichotomy, later embraced by other policy makers. According to Tremaglia, Italians could be considered fully Italian citizens only if they could exercise their right to vote and, furthermore, be represented in parliament. This was the most important turning point in the perception of the Italian transnational community in the Italian political arena. Today, policy makers have reached another level in the discussion on the Italian expatriates’ identity. Some policy makers argue Italian citizens should consider themselves Italians regardless of their ability to vote. Accordingly, Italian identity should be nurtured through cultural initiatives. This view, however, is not shared by all. There are still some policy makers that consider political participation from abroad a fundamental right that Italians abroad should be able to exercise as an expression of their “Italian-ness”. However, it can be argued that national identity and political identity should be considered as two separate issues. In the case of Italy, Italians in Italy are considered Italians no matter whether they engage in politics, especially in the circumstances of Italy where voting is not compulsory. The identity of Italians living in Italy has never been questioned in light of their political engagement. For the same reason, the identity of Italians living in foreign country should not be determined by their political engagement in the country of origin. The literature should look at a new approach whereby there is a differentiation of the two aspect of cultural and political identity in order to address these as two separate issues. The inclusion of emigrants in the political system has somehow obscured the needs of the Italian transnational communities from a cultural perspective as evidenced by the history of Italian migrant communities. Even without any political engagement from abroad, Italians have been able to maintain cultural links and their community identity over the decades. Italian identity among emigrants and their descendants should be fostered with policies that look at the future of these communities without any political and electoral intromissions.

8.5 Citizenship rights or privileges?

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The discussion of the political engagement of citizens living abroad has mostly focused on the issue of national identity prior to the implementation of the expatriate voting policy. Since the implementation, policy makers have focused their attention on voting methods and turnout. Increasing the political turnout and securing the participation from abroad have been the most recurrent issue discussed by policy makers. However, the legitimacy of the political participation for citizens living abroad has never been placed at the top of the agenda. The question whether citizenship rights granted to Italian citizens living abroad have become privileges, especially since the implementation of the dual citizenship policy, should be considered as the key issue in the discussion of expatriate voting rights. These privileges include pensions, health insurance and an EU passport that allow Italian descendants to freely travel and live in any EU country. As Scotto (2014) pointed out in his interview, Italy is one of the countries in Europe that least discusses citizenship issues. It should not be a surprise that the expatriate voting policy has never been discussed in parliament in light of citizenship rights. Tremaglia supported the idea that Italian citizens should always have the right to have a say in Italy’s political future, no matter where they live. The connection between Italy and its citizens, as supported by Tremaglia and others, finds its origin in the underlying philosophy adopted in the Italian citizenship policy that considers citizenship a matter of ancestry (Zincone 2006). Over the decades, new policy makers never reconsidered this approach, supporting the ius sanguinis as the only valid principle to access Italian citizenship rights. With the introduction of dual citizenship in 1992, the transmission of Italian citizenship became an object of interest to many Italian descendants who applied to acquire (or re-acquire) their citizenship. The new policy has allowed an ever increasing number of people to access full Italian citizenship rights. Over the years, the transnational community created by the dual citizenship policy has increased without attracting the attention of policy makers. In more recent times, the question whether Italians living abroad should be entitled to full citizenship rights, including voting rights, has become a matter of discussion that could not have been further avoided. Discussing citizenship issues in the Italian political arena has always been a difficult topic for political parties. Most of the time, emotional arguments were used to promote policies, and for this reason, policy makers have been avoiding any

198 discussion in relation to citizenship rights in current times. As Amato (2014) suggested, discussing matters like citizenship and citizenship rights can have a strong impact on the electorate and on parties’ political support. However, many factors have forced policy makers to engage with the topic of citizenship rights. The new Italian migration wave, the political disengagement of Italian citizens living abroad and the increasing presence of immigrants in the Italian territory who cannot access citizenship rights have been the three main issues that triggered the new reassessment. While citizenship rights have been fully granted to emigrants and their descendants, Italians temporarily abroad have not received the same treatment. Until 2016, Italians who were temporarily abroad could not cast their vote from abroad, limiting their de facto political rights. Their only option was to return to Italy and vote in their domestic district. This issue in the limited use of citizenship rights for Italian citizens living temporarily abroad became a topic of discussion among policy makers. Facilitating the political participation of Italian citizens permanently abroad and limiting the participation of Italians temporarily abroad became a paradox. For 15 years Italy had guaranteed full voting rights for people that had very little or nothing to do with the country of origin and denied voting rights to those who were entitled to have a say in the future of their country of residency. The issue of the differentiation of political rights among different categories of Italian citizens reopened the Pandora’s box of Italian citizenship rights, questioning the rationale used to grant full political rights to citizens. The current approach considers Italian citizens as a homogeneous group that must have the same rights, no matter where they are born, where they live and whether they pay taxes. However, by looking at the current Italian transnational community, it is possible to identify different groups of Italians within the transnational community. For instance, the first generation of Italian citizens permanently residing abroad can be identified as those Italians who relocated between the 1890s and 1950s. They were Italians born in Italy that relocated abroad. However, Italian transnational community does not include only first generation of Italian citizens. Second, third and fourth generation of Italians can be found in all countries of destination. These are the descendants of first generation Italians who, most of the time, have inherited the Italian citizenship but have never lived in Italy, know nothing about the country and, often, do not speak Italian. Moreover, the Italian transnational community has been affected

199 by new emigration waves. New first generation Italian emigrants have become part of the already existing Italian transnational community, reshaping the transnational community and challenging the current political and social interpretation of the role of emigrants in the political life of the country of origin. Because of the current composition of the Italian transnational community, it is impossible to discuss citizenship rights without considering the sub-groups within the Italian communities living in foreign countries. At the present time, all Italian citizens living abroad have equal citizenship rights. By looking at the composition of the current Italian transnational community, however, Italians abroad have substantially different characteristics. For many years these differences have been ignored failing to bring the subject to the attention of the Italian parliament. The question whether Italian ancestry and the “blood connection” can still be considered the most important criterion to grant citizenship rights appears to be the crucial point of discussion (Dumbrava & Baböck 2015). At the same time, policy makes should face the issue whether Italians who relocated 50 years ago should still be entitled to have a say in the political future of a country in which they do not live and do not plan to return.

8.5.1 Limitation of citizenship rights for Italians living abroad

Based on the current circumstances, ancestry should not be the only element of consideration and Italy should start rediscussing the Italian citizenship status and related citizenship rights in light of fairer criteria. For instance, should a third generation Italian, who obtained the Italian citizenship by ancestry, who has never lived in Italy and does not speak Italian be entitled to vote and be represented in the Italian parliament? According to the current legislation the answer is yes. However, by looking at other countries, citizenship rights can be granted in light of evidence on the connection between citizens and the homeland. In some nations, this connection has been measured with residency. Most Anglo-Saxon countries have implemented policy to suspend citizenship rights for those citizens who reside for more than a certain time in foreign countries (i.e. Australia, Canada, and U.K.). This practice demonstrated a shift of perception on what citizenship represents. Citizenship and citizenship rights can be regulated separately, as indicated by Beckman (2006), dismembering the concept of citizenship in two elements: citizenship status and citizenship rights.

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In the case of Italy, the redefinition of citizenship and the acquisition and transmission of citizenship rights is far from being accepted and only a timid discussion has begun among policy makers. While a large group of Italian policy makers considered the differentiation of citizenship a violation of the constitutional principles of equality, empirical evidence coming from other countries’ experiences demonstrate that there are different kind of citizens and, for this reason, different types of citizenship. By accepting the idea that different types of citizens can exist, not all should have access to equal citizenship rights. This perspective could facilitate the implementation of policies to stop the phenomenon of the acquisition of Italian citizenship for utilitarian reasons, such as traveling within the European member states as illustrated by Tarli Barbieri (2007). It should be highlighted, however, that those policy makers who wish for a redefinition of citizenship criteria are those who are not involved in political parties. They are current members of institutions that are not involved in political parties’ dynamic and they do not sit in parliament. This is significant in supporting the thesis that, despite a general recognition of the deficiencies of the expatriate voting system, those who are directly involved in the elections are reluctant in accepting the new interpretation of citizenship and citizenship rights as illustrated by the members of the institutions. The implementation of dual citizenship policies has had implications in facilitating the opportunistic acquisition of Italian citizenship. At the time of the implementation, policy makers did not, however, realise the repercussion of delinking citizenship from the traditional approach of national loyalty. The acceptance of dual citizenship among nations was considered a step forward in the redefinition of citizenship (Smith & Guarnizo 1998, Faist 2000, Levitt & de la Dehesa 2003, Vertovec 2004). The implementation of dual citizenship policies has emptied the concept of citizenship, giving citizenship a new nuance. People can be citizens of more than one country and can choose to be dual citizens even for convenience. Because of the evolution of the subject and the current interpretation on what citizenship represents, Italian policy makers will be forced at some point to reconsider the acquisition and transmission of citizenship rights. This reconsideration will especially affect Italians living permanently abroad and will have repercussion also on political rights.

8.6 Residency and political participation

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Without questioning the principle of ius sanguinis in the transmission of citizenship to descendants per se, the case of Italy highlights the necessity to introduce some limitations in granting political rights to Italians that relocate abroad and their descendants. A common practice of managing political participation from abroad consists in suspending citizenship rights for citizens who have been residing permanently abroad for a certain period of time, such as Australia, Canada and UK. In the case of these countries, residency has become the most important parameter, rather than citizenship, to allow expatriates to participate in the political life of the country of origin. As indicated by some scholars, political participation should be allowed for people who directly experience the repercussion of governments’ policies (Lopez Guerra 2005, Rubio Marin 2006). Citizens living in foreign countries are not directly affected by the outcomes of elections. The system implemented in Italy has raised even more questions regarding the reasons Italians should have their own representatives, considering that government’s decisions will have very limited impact on Italian communities abroad. Residency, rather than citizenship, appears to be the most logical criterion to enable citizenship rights. Citizens should be directly affected by their political decisions, for good or bad. This suggests that only people who have resided in Italy for a certain time should be entitled to participate in elections. For the same reason, after a certain period abroad, citizens should have their political rights suspended with the possibility to retrieve them if they return permanently to their country of origin. Support for such ideas is not consistent amongst policy makers. Considering residency as the main criterion to enable voting rights encounters the enthusiasm of those Italian policy makers that are less affiliated with political parties. MPs and Senators, while acknowledging the limits to the transmission of citizenship are needed, still consider citizenship as a full package that cannot be divided. These policy makers strongly disagree with the idea of a differentiation of citizenship status among Italian citizens by using the criterion of residency. According to them, differentiation of citizenship would create a “second class citizenship” which can be considered unconstitutional from a legislative perspective. While suspending voting rights is considered unacceptable by most policy makers, limits on rights for Italians not residing in Italy already de facto exist. For example, Italian citizens who move their residency abroad, automatically lose some rights such

202 the free health cover (Decreto Ministeriale 1996). The health cover can be retrieved for 30 days when Italians permanently residing abroad return to Italy. In the case of a longer stay, medical insurance is not provided.23 This policy has certainly affected citizens living outside Italian borders, limiting their citizenship rights. Moreover, in the taxation process, Italians living abroad are also considered differently from Italians living in Italy. Italians living permanently abroad are affected by higher taxation on their properties in the Italian territory (Law 80/2014). These examples have further demonstrated that a differentiation of citizenship rights already exists in the Italian system with residency as the most important parameter. However, when it comes to political rights, policy makers reject the idea that voting rights could also be limited for Italians living abroad, demonstrating, once again, political parties’ interests towards the electorate residing permanently overseas.

8.7 Answers to the research questions

This study has been able to provide the answers to the research questions that guided this study:

• What were the original motivations for the implementation of the Italian expatriate voting policy?

• How have policy makers changed their perception towards the expatriate voting policy and citizenship policy since 2001?

This research has answered the first question, what were the original motivations for the implementation of the Italian expatriate voting policy?, demonstrating that political opportunism has been the main driver that has shaped the discussion on expatriate voting, before and after the implementation of policy in 2001. Over the past decades, the engagement of citizens living abroad was mostly supported for political and partisan reasons. Due to the political and electoral reasons that drove the inclusion of the foreign constituency in the Italian constitution, policy makers have never debated the legitimacy of the system and of political inclusion of citizens that live

23 There are some exceptions depending on the Regional health policies and citizens’ status in specific circumstances.

203 outside the country’s borders. Even though the promoter of the policy, Tremaglia, believed in the inclusion of emigrants following a nationalistic narrative, the rest of political parties’ members saw in the expatriate voting policy as an opportunity to gather more votes and to increase the number of MPs and Senators affiliated with their parties. Berlusconi and his party supported the inclusion of the transnational community in the electoral process in order to maintain a solid coalition in parliament. At the same time, the historical connection between the transnational community and the right political parties played a significant role in final decision to implement the policy. At the same time, the centre-left wing party realised the benefit of such policy from an electoral perspective and did not miss the chance to negotiate the conditions for the inclusion of the expatriate voting practice. Moreover, political opportunism appears evident also due to fact that the debate on the inclusion of non-resident citizens solely involved political parties. Citizens living abroad and their representatives at that time (members of the Com.it.es and CGIE) did not play any crucial role in the negotiation for the implementation of the policy and the creation of the foreign constituency as the preferred voting method. The expatriate voting policy and the creation of the foreign constituency was a convenient move played by political parties to gather votes that had never been used.

204

The research also provides an answer to the second research question, How have policy makers changed their perception towards the expatriate voting policy and citizenship policy since 2001?, by looking at the current debate among policy makers on the outcomes of the policy since 2006 and on the future of the expatriate voting policy. Today, the debate on the electoral participation of expatriates among policy makers has mostly focused on technicalities of the voting methods, electoral representation and turnout. Since its implementation, policy makers have continued to discuss the engagement of citizens living abroad in light of the deficiencies of the current system, considering the current policy and the foreign constituency as a milestone that should not be questioned. As findings demonstrate, some timid voices are emerging, supporting a more theoretical and substantial discussion on the legitimacy of the political engagement of citizens abroad. Only members of Italian institutions have been supporting this new vision of political engagement from abroad. Most MPs and Senators have demonstrated that their major concerns, as indicated in the submitted proposals, still focuses on voting mechanism to allow the current system to work better. Support for the political engagement of citizens living abroad is still based on political opportunism of policy makers. Political parties that are still gaining votes from abroad unconditionally support the current system. At the same time, those parties that see disadvantages for themselves in the system, such as Forza Italia, do not want to engage in any discussion on the legitimacy of the political engagement of expatriated citizens since they fear political repercussion and the loss of electoral support. Political opportunism is, indeed, an obstacle that has prevented a more thorough discussion of political rights for citizens living in foreign countries. Policy makers appear to show strong self-interest in the discussion of citizenship rights, aiming for the least damage possible to the performance of their party. For this reason, all political parties prefer to avoid the discussion of citizenship rights, supporting a confusing and unfair policy that has transformed citizenship rights into citizenship privileges. The approach adopted by Italy for the acquisition and transmission of citizenship rights appears to be dated and unable to keep up with the changes within the transnational community. In a globalised world, where people relocate easily and can

205 have multiple citizenships, using blood ties as the only criterion to grant citizenship rights appears to be an outdated view of what citizenship is. For this reason, the citizenship status appears to not be a sufficient criterion to grant full citizenship rights to descendants of Italians living abroad. Some Italian policy makers have started to discuss the role of the Italian transnational communities in order to reconsider the political engagement of Italians living in foreign countries based on new criteria such as residency. Once again, only those who are not directly involved in the political parties’ activities and elections have addressed these issues promoting a new idea to reconsider citizenship criteria In answering these questions, the research also confirmed that, among Italian policy makers, the discussion of issues related to expatriate voting and citizenship policies appears to be of interest to a niche group of policy makers. The expatriate voting policy has always been approached as a policy that appeared not to have a significant impact in the domestic political dynamics of the country and, for this reason, many policy makers are not interested in discussing its implications. However, as demonstrated in this research, the expatriate voting policy has impacted crucial aspects of the Italian legislative and political system, affecting electoral results. Policy makers know that, soon or later, they will have to start a new discussion to reconsider the entire transnational policy framework.

8.8 Contribution to the literature

Despite the numerous studies conducted on the political engagement of transnational communities (Battiston & Mascitelli 2008; Barry, 2006; Bauböck 2007; Boccagni 2011; Collyer 2003; Escobar 2014; Fitzgerald 2006; Gamlen 2008, 2015; Lafleur 2011a, 2011b, 2013; Lisi al. 2015; Lopez Guerra 2005; Martiniello & Leflaur 2008; Rubio-Marin 2006; Spiro 2006), expatriate voting policies have been rarely investigated from a homeland political perspective. This research demonstrates how sending countries can implement expatriate voting policies pursuing homeland political interests rather than pursuing a genuine attempt to include the transnational community in the electoral process of the country of origin for the benefit of the transnational community. Political parties’ interests represent the most important driver that have fostered the debate and even the creation of the foreign constituency in Italy.

206

This research has demonstrated that domestic politics and the perceived needs of political parties should be further investigated to comprehend the reasons why emigrants are involved in the electoral process of sending countries. The opportunistic reasons for the implementation of the policy were first raised by Mascitelli and Battiston (2008). However, the hypothesis elaborated by the two authors was not supported empirically which this study has done. The Italian example highlights the importance of the “realistic” perspective in the analysis of expatriate voting practices. According to Bauböck (2007) the realist perspective justifies the legitimacy of the expatriate voting based on rational interests. As it was demonstrated by this research, political interests have played a crucial role in the implementation of the expatriate voting policy. For this reason, political and rational interests should be considered as a major driver in the analysis of expatriate voting experiences and political transnationalism practices for countries that have included such policy. Political parties’ opportunism can have a crucial role in the debate on the legitimacy of emigrants’ political inclusions if benefits are perceived. Moreover, this study has demonstrated that the general identification of citizens living abroad as “transnational community” does not sufficiently describe the characteristics of these communities, especially for countries with a long history of emigration. For this reason, the role of the transnational community and the citizenship rights expatriates are entitled to should be further discussed in light of the internal evolution of the transnational communities.

8.9 Contribution to knowledge

This study represents the first documented empirical research that investigated the Italian expatriate voting policy from a domestic political perspective. This research unveiled some crucial aspects in the approach used by Italy to address emigration issues and political participation from abroad. Firstly, this study has demonstrated the importance of internal political drivers to justify the inclusion of emigrants in the electoral electoral system. It is impossible to fully comprehend the role of transnational communities in domestic politics without an in-depth analysis on the political perception of emigrant community. The impact of emigrant communities in sending countries depends on the degree of involvement sending countries accord transnational communities in the first place.

207

Secondly, this study has highlighted the limitations of the debate conducted by Italian policy makers on the role of Italian emigrant communities. It is impossible to implement an efficient policy framework for the inclusion of non-resident citizens in the political life of the country of origin without a focussed discussion on citizenship. Clarity on citizenship and on citizenship rights, and the legitimacy of political participation of citizens living abroad appears to be the priority that policy makers need to consider, before venturing into further debate on the engagement of citizens from abroad. This research has, thirdly, demonstrated that policy makers did not engage in a broader discussion on impact of the expatriate voting policy. They focused on political convenience, on what could serve the electoral interests of political parties. Thus, this study has drawn attention on the fragile role of transnational communities when it comes to their political inclusion in the political life of the country of origin to the attention of scholars and institutions. The Italian experience has demonstrated that transnational communities can be exploited for political purposes, forgetting the primary intent of discussing the role of emigrants in the life of the country of origin.

8.10 Recommendations

Italian citizenship and citizenship rights need to be the starting point for a new discussion on the legitimacy of the expatriate voting system with the aim of providing a comprehensive understanding of the current composition of the Italian transnational community. Limiting the damage of this controversial system, as the current government did in 2015 with the inclusion of Italians temporarily abroad in the overseas electorate, can be considered only a temporary solution. Moreover, the rushed solution reached by policy makers to include Italians temporarily abroad demonstrates, once again, the deficiencies of the Italian politics in discussing emigration issues and in implementing policies that can serve the interest of emigrants rather than domestic politics. Despite the urgent need to re-open the discussion regarding the citizenship policy and the expatriate voting policy, Italian policy makers do not demonstrate any intention to start a real discussion that could allow the implementation of new policies. A realisation of the financial costs in maintaining this electoral system, as well as the costs to provide services to Italians who inherit the Italian citizenship, appears to be

208 the only possible trigger that could eventually start an effective discussion among political parties and members of the institution in the near future. At the same time, however, the risk of starting a revision of the current policies based on economic issues could lead to yet another unsatisfactory outcome without any in-depth analysis of the phenomenon.

8.11 Area of further research

The drivers that foster the implementation of expatriate voting policies should be further investigated from an empirical perspective, limiting generalisation only when clear similarities between countries can be identified. Due to the empirical analysis required to study political transnationalism practices, further research should be conducted on expatriate voting policies, considering domestic political drivers rather than focusing on the role of the transnational communities in lobbying countries of origin. The change of perspective in the analysis of these policies will provide new elements of discussion with further contribution to the already existent literature on the subject. Moreover, further studies should be conducted to understand the role of MPs and Senators elected in foreign constituencies to comprehend the impact of their parliamentary activities and to verify their ability to give a voice to transnational communities in homeland politics. Another aspect that should be investigated is the impact of the receiving countries’ domestic politics in the votes of Italian citizens living abroad. While there is some evidence showing that the domestic politics of the country of residency could influence the vote cast by Italians abroad for the country of origin, no previous studies have been conducted on this specific matter in the Italian context.

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Appendix 1

To: Dr Bruno Mascitelli, FBE CC: Ms Chiara De Lazzari

SHR Project 2014/055 Ethics clearance

Dear Bruno,

SHR Project 2014/055 Homeland politics and the emigrant vote: the view from Italy Dr Bruno Mascitelli, FBE Approved duration from 09-04-2014 to 31-03-2016

I refer to the ethical review of the above project protocol by a Subcommittee (SHESC3) of Swinburne’s Human Research Ethics Committee (SUHREC). Your responses to the review, as per the email sent on 08 April 2014, were put to the Subcommittee delegate for consideration.

I am pleased to advise that, as submitted to date, the project may proceed in line with standard on-going ethics clearance conditions here outlined.

- All human research activity undertaken under Swinburne auspices must conform to Swinburne and external regulatory standards, including the current National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and with respect to secure data use, retention and disposal.

- The named Swinburne Chief Investigator/Supervisor remains responsible for any personnel appointed to or associated with the project being made aware of ethics clearance conditions, including research and consent procedures or instruments approved. Any change in chief investigator/supervisor requires timely notification and SUHREC endorsement.

- The above project has been approved as submitted for ethical review by or on behalf of SUHREC. Amendments to approved procedures or instruments ordinarily require prior ethical appraisal/clearance. SUHREC must be notified immediately or as soon as possible thereafter of (a) any serious or unexpected adverse effects on participants any redress measures; (b) proposed changes in protocols; and (c) unforeseen events which might affect continued ethical acceptability of the project.

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- At a minimum, an annual report on the progress of the project is required as well as at the conclusion (or abandonment) of the project. Information on project monitoring, self-audits and progress reports can be found at: http://www.research.swinburne.edu.au/ethics/human/monitoringReportingCh anges/

- A duly authorised external or internal audit of the project may be undertaken at any time.

Please contact the Research Ethics Office if you have any queries about on-going ethics clearance. The SHR project number should be quoted in communication. Researchers should retain a copy of this email as part of project recordkeeping.

Best wishes for the project.

Yours sincerely, Astrid Nordmann SHESC3 Secretary

------Dr Astrid Nordmann Research Ethics Executive Officer Swinburne Research (H68) Swinburne University of Technology PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122 Tel: +613 9214 3845 Fax: +613 9214 5267 Email: [email protected] ------

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Appendix B1—English PROJECT CONSENT INFORMATION STATEMENT

Swinburne University of Technology Faculty of Health, Arts and Design

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A RESEARCH PROJECT PROJECT CONSENT INFORMATION STATEMENT

Project Title

HOMELAND POLITICS AND THE EMIGRANT VOTE: THE VIEW FROM ITALY.

Investigators Assoc. Prof. Bruno Mascitelli, Chief investigator, Associate Professor, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology

Ms Chiara De Lazzari, Student investigator and doctoral candidate, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology

Introduction to Project and Invitation to Participate You are invited to participate in a project investigating aspects of the Italian expatriate vote currently conducted in the Faculty of Health, Arts and Design at Swinburne University of Technology.

What this project is about and why it is being undertaken This project will investigate the expatriate vote outcomes and the political parties’ behaviours since the implementation of the Law 457/2001. The research will investigate the drivers that foster the debate on the expatriate voting system to identify future scenarios on this specific subject.

Project and researcher interests The project is conducted by Ms Chiara De Lazzari as part of a Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Faculty of Health, Arts and Design at Swinburne University of Technology and supervised by Assoc. Prof. Bruno Mascitelli of the Faculty of Health, Arts and Design at Swinburne University of Technology.

What participation will involve If you decide to participate in this research, you will be interviewed on a one to one basis. Questions will be provided in advance so you will have the opportunity to approve your participation or withdraw from the interview. The interview will last approximately one hour. The interview will be recorded and the audio will be converted into file so that it could be transcribed on the computer. After the interview, you will be provided with a copy of your interview and you will be asked if you approve it for editing. If you want to change the transcript you will have the right to do so.

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Participant rights and interests – Free Consent/Withdrawal from Participation Participation in this study is voluntary, and you have no obligation to be involved. You have the right to withdraw your participation at any time, without prejudice. You have the right to have any unprocessed information withdrawn and destroyed. You have the right to have any questions answered at any time.

At the interview you will be asked to sign an Informed Consent form which will indicate that • all questions about the research have been answered to your satisfaction • your participation in the research is voluntary • you may withdraw from the research at any time and that all information you have provided will be destroyed • you agree to the interview being audio recorded and transcribed • you agree to the possibility of some of the comments made by you in the interview being used directly in any publication that may result from this study.

Participant rights and interests – Privacy & Confidentiality All recorded materials will be stored in a locked filing cabinet in FHAD. All electronic transcripts will be stored on a password protected computer at Swinburne University.

All data collected will be archived either in hard copy or electronic format and stored and disposed of in accordance with the Swinburne Policy on the Conduct of Research.

For further information please see Swinburne’s Privacy Policy http://policies.swinburne.edu.au/ppdonline/ )

Signed consent forms will be stored separately to any data collected and will only be accessed by the researchers.

For the purpose of the research, it is best practice to use the real name of participants. However, participants have full rights to request to remain anonymous in the thesis.

Research output It is anticipated that the research findings, upon request to the informants, may be published and/or presented at scholarly conferences and symposia. If requested, the informants will be offered copies of published material. All privacy arrangements for confidentiality/anonymity will be guaranteed during and after the conclusion of the doctoral research.

Further information about the project – whom to contact If you would like further information about the project, please do not hesitate to contact:

Assoc. Prof. Bruno Mascitelli, Chief investigator, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Tel: 03-9214-5363 or +61-3-9214-5363; Email: [email protected]

Ms Chiara De Lazzari, student investigator and doctoral candidate, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology. Tel: 03-9214-8305; Email: [email protected]

Concerns/complaints about the project – who to contact:

This project has been approved by or on behalf of Swinburne’s Human Research Ethics Committee (SUHREC Project Number: 2014/055) in line with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. If you have any concerns or complaints about the conduct of this project, you can contact: Research Ethics Officer, Swinburne Research (H68), Swinburne University of Technology, P O Box 218, HAWTHORN VIC 3122. Tel (03) 9214 5218 or +61 3 9214 5218 or [email protected]

229

Informed Consent—Adult

Swinburne University of Technology Faculty of Health, Arts and Design

[Address block]

Project Title: Homeland politics and the emigrant vote: the view from Italy

This project will investigate the Italian expatriate vote policy and the Italian political parties’ behaviour after the implementation of the 459/2001. The aim of the research is to identify the driver that foster the existence and the debate on the expatriate voting system in Italy and the political parties’ opinion on this policy after 13 years since its implementation.

If you have any questions, please contact Ms Chiara De Lazzari Assoc. Prof. Bruno Mascitelli [email protected] [email protected] Tel (Australia): 03-92148305 Tel (Australia): 03-92145363 Tel: (international)+61 3-92148305 Tel: (international)+61 3-92145363

I consent to participate in the project named above. I acknowledge that: - my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw from the project at any time without explanation; - The Swinburne project is for the purpose of research and not for profit.

In relation to this project, please circle your response to the following: § I agree to be interviewed by the researcher and to have the interview recorded by electronic device Yes No § I agree to make myself available for further information if required Yes No § I agree to be identified together with the information provided Yes No

Name of Participant: ……………………………………………………………………………

Signature & Date: ………………………………………………………………………………..

This project has been approved by or on behalf of Swinburne’s Human Research Ethics Committee (SUHREC Project Number: 2014/055) in line with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. If you have any concerns or complaints about the conduct of this project, you can contact:

230

Research Ethics Officer, Swinburne Research (H68), Swinburne University of Technology, P O Box 218, HAWTHORN VIC 3122. Tel (03) 9214 5218 or +61 3 9214 5218 or [email protected]

Appendix 2

Proposals to review the expatriate voting law 459/2001 (Progetti di Legge).

XV Legislature

Chamber of Deputies

C.2184 - 15ª Legislatura On. Giuseppe Angeli (AN) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l' esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all' estero 29 gennaio 2007

C.2935 - 15ª Legislatura On. Siegfried Brugger (Misto, Minoranze linguistiche) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all' estero 20 luglio 2007

C.2969 - 15ª Legislatura On. Arnold Cassola (Verdi) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all' estero 27 luglio 2007

C.3186 - 15ª Legislatura On. Mirko Tremaglia (AN) Modifica all' articolo 8 della legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di requisiti per la candidatura nella circoscrizione Estero 24 ottobre 2007

Senate

S.1710 - 15ª Legislatura Sen. Filippo Berselli (AN) e altri Modifica della legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di voto degli italiani all' estero 12 luglio 2007

S.1712 - 15ª Legislatura Sen. Renato Guerino Turano (Ulivo) e altri

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Modifiche al sistema elettorale per l' elezione del Senato della Repubblica e della Camera dei deputati, nonche' norme per l' espressione del voto nella circoscrizione Estero 13 luglio 2007

S.1722 - 15ª Legislatura Sen. Andrea Pastore (FI) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 18 luglio 2007

S.1767 - 15ª Legislatura Sen. Oskar Peterlini (Aut) Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all' estero 2 agosto 2007

S.1938 - 15ª Legislatura Sen. Mauro Cutrufo (DCA-PRI-MPA) Modifiche agli articoli 48, 56 e 57 della Costituzione concernenti l' istituzione della circoscrizione Estero per l' esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani all' estero e il numero dei deputati e senatori in rappresentanza degli italiani all' estero 18 dicembre 2007

XVI Legislature

Chamber of Deputies

C.93 - 16ª Legislatura On. Mirko Tremaglia (PdL) Modifica all'articolo 8 della legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di requisiti per la candidatura nella circoscrizione Estero 29 aprile 2008

C.21 - 16ª Legislatura On. Siegfried Brugger (Misto) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 29 aprile 2008

C.105 - 16ª Legislatura On. Giuseppe Angeli (PdL) Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 29 aprile 200

C.2348 - 16ª Legislatura

232

On. Gianni Farina (PD) Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 31 marzo 2009

C.3099 - 16ª Legislatura On. Antonio Razzi (IdV) e altri Disposizioni per l'introduzione del voto diretto mediante sistema elettronico per lo svolgimento delle elezioni e dei referendum in favore di tutti i cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 8 gennaio 2010

C.3232 - 16ª Legislatura On. Giuseppe Angeli (PdL) e altri Modifica all'articolo 8 della legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di requisiti per la candidatura alla Camera dei deputati e al Senato della Repubblica nella circoscrizione Estero 22 febbraio 2010

C.3262 - 16ª Legislatura On. Fabio Gava (PdL) e altri Modifiche agli articoli 56 e 57 della Costituzione, concernenti la soppressione della circoscrizione Estero per l'elezione della Camera dei deputati e del Senato della Repubblica 2 marzo 2010

C.3275 - 16ª Legislatura On. Giuseppe Angeli (PdL) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 9 marzo 2010

C.3390 - 16ª Legislatura On. Marco Zacchera (PdL) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 13 aprile 2010

C.3573 - 16ª Legislatura On. Massimo Calearo Ciman (Misto, Alleanza per l'Italia) Modifiche agli articoli 56 e 57 della Costituzione, concernenti la soppressione della circoscrizione Estero per l'elezione della Camera dei deputati e del Senato della Repubblica 23 giugno 2010

C.3634 - 16ª Legislatura On. Bruno Tabacci (Misto, Alleanza per l'Italia) e altri

233

Modifiche al testo unico di cui al decreto del Presidente della Repubblica 30 marzo 1957, n. 361, in materia di elezione della Camera dei deputati con sistema proporzionale e voto personalizzato, e alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, concernente l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero. Delega al Governo per la determinazione dei collegi elettorali uninominali 15 luglio 2010

C.3663 - 16ª Legislatura On. Dario Franceschini (PD) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 27 luglio 2010

C.3695 - 16ª Legislatura On. Aldo Di Biagio (FLI) Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 27 agosto 2010

C.3878 - 16ª Legislatura On. Pier Ferdinando Casini (UdC) e altri Istituzione dei comitati di controllo dello svolgimento delle elezioni nella circoscrizione Estero e nuove norme in materia di ineleggibilità nella medesima circoscrizione 18 novembre 2010

C.3972 - 16ª Legislatura On. Elena Centemero (PdL) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 16 dicembre 2010

Senate

S.26 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Oskar Peterlini (UDC-SVP-Aut) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 29 aprile 2008

S.624 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Filippo Berselli (PdL) e altri Modifica della legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di voto degli italiani all'estero 21 maggio 2008

S.976 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Esteban Juan Caselli (PdL) e altri

234

Modifica della legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di voto degli italiani all'estero 31 luglio 2008

S.2049 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Giuseppe Firrarello (PdL) Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 3 marzo 2010

S.2048 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Andrea Pastore (PdL) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 3 marzo 2010

S.2063 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Esteban Juan Caselli (PdL) Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di certezza ed agevolazione delle operazioni di voto degli italiani all'estero 10 marzo 2010

S.2293 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Francesco Rutelli (Misto, Alleanza per l'Italia) e altri Modifiche al testo unico di cui al decreto del Presidente della Repubblica 30 marzo 1957, n. 361, in materia di elezione della Camera dei deputati con sistema proporzionale e voto personalizzato, e alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero. Delega al Governo per la determinazione dei collegi elettorali uninominali 22 luglio 2010

S.2303 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Anna Finocchiaro (PD) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 28 luglio 2010

S.2811 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Gianpiero D'Alia (UDC-SVP-AUT:UV-MAIE-VN-MRE-PLI) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di istituzione dei comitati di controllo dello svolgimento delle elezioni nella circoscrizione Estero e nuove norme in materia di ineleggibilità nella medesima circoscrizione 5 luglio 2011

S.2875 - 16ª Legislatura Sen. Vincenzo Oliva (Misto, MPA-Movimento per le Autonomie-Alleati per il Sud) Modifiche agli articoli 56 e 57 della Costituzione, in materia di riduzione dei parlamentari, di eliminazione della disposizione che prevede l'elezione dei senatori

235 nella circoscrizione Estero e di riduzione del limite di età per l'elettorato passivo per la Camera dei deputati 3 agosto 2011

XVII Legislature

Chamber of Deputies

C.1056 - 17ª Legislatura On. Marco Meloni (PD) e altri Disciplina dell'esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani che si trovano temporaneamente all'estero 27 maggio 2013

C.1704 - 17ª Legislatura On. Fabio Porta (PD) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani temporaneamente domiciliati all'estero 16 ottobre 2013

C.1955 - 17ª Legislatura On. Roberto Speranza (PD) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, recante norme per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 15 gennaio 2014

C.2038 - 17ª Legislatura On. Alessandro Di Battista (M5S) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 3 febbraio 2014

C.2413 - 17ª Legislatura On. Alessio Tacconi (Misto) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 28 maggio 2014

C.3007 - 17ª Legislatura On. Mauro Ottobre (Misto, Minoranze linguistiche) Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 1 aprile 2015

Senate

S.39 - 17ª Legislatura Sen. Karl Zeller (Aut (SVP, UV, PATT, UPT) - PSI) e altri

236

Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 15 marzo 2013

S.1059 - 17ª Legislatura Sen. Aldo Di Biagio (SCpI) e altri Disposizioni per l'esercizio del diritto di voto dei cittadini italiani temporaneamente domiciliati all'estero 25 settembre 2013

S.1111 - 17ª Legislatura Sen. Francesco Russo (PD) Disciplina dell'esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani che si trovano temporaneamente all'estero 15 ottobre 2013

S.1235 - 17ª Legislatura Sen. Luigi Zanda (PD) e altri Modifiche alla legge 27 dicembre 2001, n. 459, in materia di esercizio del diritto di voto da parte dei cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 10 gennaio 2014

S.2023 - 17ª Legislatura Sen. Antonio Razzi (FI-PdL XVII) Disposizioni per l'introduzione del voto elettronico per i cittadini italiani residenti all'estero 24 luglio 2015

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