“This is chaos. Renewing a passport or requesting nationality by kinship is a right”. This is affirmed by the Italian-Argentine senator Ricardo Merlo, leader of the main movement, the MAIE, which represents the interests of the six million residents outside of Italy, including more than one million in Argentina.
“It is shameful that an Italian citizen living in Argentina failed to renew your passport. That is a right, they cannot make him a prisoner. And also “there is a full right to request the documents that prove Italian citizenship by consanguinity and not to go through endless bureaucratic turns.”
Merlo was vice chancellor in the two governments prior to the current one of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, headed by Giuseppe Conte.
“When I was there, there were no major problems. Passports were renewed and citizenship procedures were carried out. With delays, with some problem, but they were done. Now instead it is chaos ”.
The Italian-Argentine Senator Ricardo Merlo. Photo Victor Sokolowicz
Merlo pointed to Bugle qeu “the fault is not of the consuls, who are valid professionals but of the government that has left adrift the issue of Italians abroad ”.
No tools
But many times people has complained of mistreatment by consulate staff. “Those who have suffered harassment write to Ricardo.Merlo@Senato.it, specifying the possible data to locate the aggressor,” says Merlo.
Prime Minister Draghi has never mentioned in these months of his government the issue of caring for the six million Italians who reside beyond the borders. “That’s right,” Merlo responds. “The government does not give the consulates the tools to work”.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic that has hit Italy since February 2020 and has already caused more than 130 thousand deaths, the problem has become a nightmare.
“Everything has been complicated. Draghi does not give Italians abroad even a greeting. We of the MAIE are not part of this government, as we were part of the Conte governments in which we comply with the compatriots who reside abroad. For example, I have my residence in Argentina, where I was born ”.
The largest Italian community lives in Argentina, that adds a million, seventy thousand people, which multiplies many times with their descendants.
“When I was vice chancellor, we began to improve the situation of the consulates. In Uruguay, for example, there was a 16-square-meter place to serve a community of 130,000 Italians in Montevideo. The new consulate is going to be 700 meters long ”.
In Buenos Aires “the consul is excellent but it lacks the resources to serve more than 300 thousand people ”.
“We need more staff, more computerization and someone in the government to take care of Italians abroad, giving them the attention that so many compatriots deserve.”
The Minister of Public Administration, Renato Brunetta, has ordered that since October 15 return to work “in presence” at least half of those who worked from home in the wake of the epidemic.
A vaccination room in Rome. Photo EFE
Vaccines
“I have expressly asked him to bring the staff back to the consulates, where we need them, especially in this pandemic time,” he says. Merlo presented an interpellation in the Italian Senate so that one hundred percent of the consulates have their staff working in presence and not online from home.
“I hope in the next two weeks to interview Minister Brunetta and Minister of Health Roberto Speranza to re-start the bureaucratic apparatus in the care of Italians abroad,” he explained. “And I believe little by little we will win the battle. It’s going to be complicated but we’re going out”.
Obligatory subject is the one of the vaccines and the trips of the Argentine Italians to Italy. “In the first place we have already obtained that any Italian citizen can enter your country and can be vaccinated”, Says Merlo.
Regarding the openness towards vaccines applied in Argentina, which are not recognized in Italy and the other 26 countries of the European Union, which follow the mandate of EMA, the European Community entity that authorizes or rejects drugs from all type, “the door has already opened, we also have to fight to make it open wide.”
Merlo indicated that “The Indian Covishield vaccine has already been approved”, which with AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfister and especially the Russian Sputnik, have been applied in our country.
“The acceptance of Covishield It is the first step. Moderna, Astrazeneca and Pfizer are already accepted in Europe so we are concentrating on the Chinese Sinopharm and the Russian Sputnik V ”, explains Merlo.
“With Sinopharm there are fewer problems because it received authorization from the WHO, the World Health Organization. I notice a willingness to listen to our reasons. The Sputnik V thing is more complicated but it will also come out later on ”.
The case of the Russian vaccine has a difficult first complication. It has not obtained authorization from the World Health Organization. There have been disagreements with various organizations and the Russians tend to reject requests for information on technical issues.
Senator Merlo has already made several contacts and hopes to meet next week with the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza. “Everyone knows that the Sputnik V vaccine works well and I think they will end up approving the permit for Italians vaccinated in Argentina with this substance. The approval of the Chinese Sinopharm must first come out ”.
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