ITALY: Vice-Minister Calls for Emigrants to Enjoy Full Rights

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Dic 16 (IPS) - Italy's vice-minister of foreign relations, Vincenzo Trentino, said Friday that citizens living abroad must not be seen as emigrants but simply as "fellow citizens."

In an exclusive interview with IPS, the official said Italians abroad should be considered part of Italy's new reality, and added that the country is "indebted" to its emigrants.

Trentino said Italy must back its citizens abroad and that a number of rights must be returned them, including that of voting in Italian elections.

The possibility of granting the right to vote to those citizens who live outside of Italy has been discussed for several years, but has not yet been legislated into practice.

He added that a focus on expanding information-sharing and achieving an improved interchange of news "from and to" Italy is "fundamental" to this process.

The vice-minister, who is also president of the General Council on Italians Abroad, spoke to the Congress on Information in Latin American Italian Communities, being held Dec. 15-17 in the headquarters of the Latin American Parliament in Sao Paulo.

In a message to the conference's 500 participants, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Martino said participation by the state- run radio and television stations (RAI) is key to achieving broader dispersion of Italian news.

Martino announced that "an innovative strategy in radio and television broadcasting is being defined," while Trentino said that "to broadcast the RAI satellite signal once again would be a great achievement for us and for future generations."

The vice-minister also stressed the importance of modifying Italy's assistential relationship with emigrant communities: "The policy was previously to give little to many, regardless of beneficiaries' knowlege about or relationship with our country.

"Now we give a lot to a few, especially in those communities that have a strong presence and participation, which in turn is directly related to our interests."

The key to this effort will be "to pay off our debts to our citizens...because the current government is willing to fulfill its obligations, and it is our own country that will benefit in the end," according to Trentino.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service