On Thursday, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani expressed his desire to increase the number of African students coming to Italy, a statement that may intensify existing disputes within the coalition over immigration and citizenship rights.
Tajani’s centre-right Forza Italia party has proposed granting citizenship to foreign minors who have completed most of their education in Italy. However, this idea has faced resistance from the two hard-right coalition partners: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and Matteo Salvini’s League.
Speaking at a Catholic business and politics conference in Rimini on the Adriatic coast, Tajani emphasized the need to boost the number of African students in Italy. He was discussing an Italian development initiative for African countries called the Mattei Plan, named after the late founder of Italy’s state-controlled energy company Eni.
Tajani compared the plan to the Marshall Plan, which saw the United States support European economies after World War Two.
Italy has a significantly lower number of foreign students compared to other major EU countries. According to data from Italy’s national statistics institute ISTAT, around 25,000 study permits were issued in Italy in 2022, compared to nearly 105,000 in France and about 70,000 in Germany. ISTAT attributes this discrepancy to the limited use of Italian as an international language and the challenges of finding employment in Italy.
