Austria govt ‘to consult Rome’ on passport offer to Italians

Austria’s new coalition government will press ahead with plans to offer citizenship to the German-speaking minority in Italy, but pledged to consult with Rome. The project risks reopening century-old wounds, Reuters said. The dual citizenship plan for the northern Italian region of Alto Adige was included in a coalition agreement announced over the weekend between Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s conservative People’s Party and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO). Italian politicians have already condemned it, calling it a gesture to nationalism and saying it will threaten the delicate ethnic balance in the autonomous area of Alto Adige, also known as the South Tyrol.