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<a href=www.agi.it>Special service by AGI on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister's office Today in Italy
(AGI) - Rome, May 12 - RAI International programs to give all Italians abroad immediate news from the motherland and a website for keep them in touch and updated on their problems, that can find a parliamentary solution, are two of the goals of the program illustrated to AGI by the new president of the Parliamentary Committe for Italians Abroad, Senator Riccardo Minardo.
"There are 65 million Italians abroad, more than the number living in Italy," said Minardo, who hopes to visit them in their foreign communities. "This is a commitment to contribute to the improvement of the conditions of those who moved, trying to change the policies of various countries in favour of our countrymen. For this, a reform of the Committees of Italians Abroad (Comites) will be necessary, while we will also have to perfect the conditions to give everyone the right to vote." Minardo is nearing his first trip as president, which will take place in Argentina, between the end of May and the first days of June, but the trips will then continue in all the countries that host our countrymen abroad, that is Venezuela, Brazil, the United States, and the rest of the world.
The parliamentary committee is closely following the current difficult situation in South America, where the requests for re-entry by emigrants ha increased, with proceedings that take up to seven to eight years, but "we have to think about helping them where they are. The problem will not be solved with re-entry into Italy, especially for those, like in Argentina and Venezuela, worked an entire lifetime and often constructed empires. Now it seems that their companies aren't worth anything. It is important to try to change the policies of the governments in the different host countries." And still concerning Argentina, Minardo emphasised that of the four million Italian abroad with the right to vote, the majority, 1.2 million, are in Argentina, around 2 million are in EU countries, and the remaining 800,000 are spread around the world. But "everyone, in order to have the right to vote, has to have a double citizenship," said Minardo.
He then emphasised how relations with other organisations are fine, so much so that "as a Committee, we decided to have hearings in the Senate. One of the first will be with the president of CGIE (General Council of Italians Abroad), Narducci, and then there will be Minister Tremaglia, and then meetings to realise a reform process of the Committees of Italians Abroad, the Comites." (AGI) 121944 MAG 03