Italy rejects Austrias South Tyrol plan

The Italian Government strongly rejects Austria's plan to offer Austrian citizens the Austrian nationality.

The new coalition of the northern neighbor, formed by the ÖVP and the right-wing populist FPÖ, had already included the dual citizenship proposal for South Tyroleans at the end of 2017 in the coalition agreement. Austria lost the area to Italy after the First World War in 1918. Even now, 70 percent of residents have German as their mother tongue. At the same time there is also spoken Romans (Ladinisch) here and there. In Italy, South Tyrol enjoys an autonomous status.