The storm unleashed by assault Sunday of thousands of followers of the former president Jair Bolsonaro to the seats of power in Brasilia is splashing Italy too. It is because this is the country of origin of the ancestors of Bolsonaro, what has open a controversy in the event that he or his family is granted the nationality italian. Something that refers to the fact that the transalpine legislation is based on the principle of jus sanguiniswhich establishes that descendants who can prove their affiliation and meet certain requirements can obtain this right.
With this as a starting point, the first to open Pandora’s box was Angelo Bonelli, a deputy from the Green Europe environmental party. Bonelli presented in November a parliamentary question to ask for explanations about the case. Gianmarco Mazzi answered himrepresentative of the Brothers of Italy (the party of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni), who confirmed that indeed two of Bolsonaro’s sons have applied for nationality italian.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (of Italy) has been informed of the fact that, in 2020, Flavio and Edoardo Bolsonarosons of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, They asked to get on the waiting list. of the consulate of Brazil for the recognition of citizenship jus sanguinis“, said Mazzi. On the other hand, as far as the former Brazilian president is concerned, “there is no record of a request of this type,” he clarified.
Italian-Brazilian mess
But this did not silence the controversy. On the contrary, after the violence on Sunday, the issue circulated again in the press of the Latin American country, with media that affirmed that the intention of the Bolsonaro family is to “come to Italy as soon as possible”, as published by the weekly Istoè. Something that quickly reached the ears of politics in Rome.
With this, Bonelli returned to the charge this week. “The Italian government must be clear: no nationality for children of Bolsonaro and the former president. Supporters of the putschists“he said last Monday. The former Brazilian leader “has never asked for nationality Italian,” Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, responded at the time.
Exceptions to extradition
But this did not diffuse the discussions eitherwith several Italian commentators and journalists who in the last hours have expressed their discrepancy that the Bolsonaro family can one day obtain transalpine citizenship, although it is not clear what advantages they would have.
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The reason for the latter is that there is an extradition treaty between Italy and Brazil (since 1989), but this agreement contemplates some exceptions. For example: the extradition of people wanted for political crimes is excluded, as he recalled this Wednesday in the pages of the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore Enzo Cannizzaro, expert in International Law. Similarly, Italy can refuse to extradite a person who is a citizen of their country, Cannizzaro added.
However, it is not the first time that Bolsonaro, descendant of Vittorio Bolzonaro, an emigrant from northern Italy who went to Brazil at the end of the 19th century, arouses controversy in Italy. It already happened in October 2021 when, invited to Rome to participate in the G20, the former president traveled to Anguillara Venetato participate there in a ceremony in which the local council (close to the Matteo Salvini League, an ally of the Brazilian) they granted him honorary citizenship. what caused various protests and the complaints even from the Libera anti-mafia association.
Controversy in Italy over the request for nationality of Bolsonaro’s children