A political debate over revoking citizenship from foreign-born criminals and terrorists has gained traction in Italy in the wake of the Modena attack, with the League already tabling a bill to that effect in the Italian parliament.
In the northern Italian city of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region, on May 16, 2026, a 31-year-old Italian citizen of Moroccan origin attempted a mass killing by deliberately driving at high speed into a crowded pedestrian area, before crashing into a shop window and getting out of the vehicle armed with a knife to attack passers-by.
The suspect was eventually subdued by civilians — including two Egyptian migrants — and arrested by police, without fatalities. Eight people were injured, four of them critically; two female tourists, from Poland and Germany aged 69 and 53, suffered the amputation of their legs.
“Citizenship cannot be for life,” said Deputy Prime Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini, who has presented the bill. “As far as I am concerned, both the residence permit and citizenship are an act of trust from the Italian people, who give respect and demand respect in return. It is not a lifetime contract.”
The attacker, identified as Salim El Koudri, was born in Bergamo, in Lombardy, and raised in Ravarino, in the province of Modena. He held Italian citizenship from birth. He had graduated in business economics but was unemployed at the time of the attack. He had no criminal record and was not previously known to intelligence or counter-terrorism authorities.
El Koudri had for years shown signs of deep personal and social distress. He had been treated by mental health services for schizoid disorders since 2022, and had developed increasing emotional instability and social isolation.
Investigators believe he harboured growing resentment toward Italian society and individuals he believed had humiliated or discriminated against him. In emails reportedly sent in 2021 to the University of Modena while seeking employment support, he complained of exclusion on religious grounds and used violent language against Christians before later apologising. Following the attack, he allegedly shouted again hostile remarks against Christians.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has ruled out a terrorist motive, saying El Koudri may have been driven by “resentment linked to a sense of having suffered discrimination”. The absence of confirmed terrorist connections has fuelled a wider debate in Italy over whether the Modena attack should be classified as an act of terrorism or as the outcome of severe psychological distress unrelated to religious radicalisation.
Nevertheless, the case has sharply intensified political tensions over immigration, integration and public security. “If you commit a serious crime, a serious country expels you immediately — it is legitimate self-defence,” Salvini said, adding in another intervention that: “Second-generation migrants who want to integrate are welcome; those who reject the culture and laws of the country in which they grow up become a problem.”
The bill proposed in the Italian parliament by the League, currently the most hardline force on migration and security within the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, would significantly broaden the circumstances under which citizenship acquired through naturalisation or marriage can be revoked.
At present, Italian law allows revocation only in narrowly defined cases, primarily involving final convictions for terrorism-related offences or crimes against the State, and only for naturalised citizens. Italian-born citizens cannot be stripped of their nationality, and revocation is also constrained by strict safeguards designed to prevent statelessness.
The League’s bill would extend these powers beyond terrorism to include other particularly serious violent crimes committed against Italian citizens or threats to national security, with the aim of strengthening deterrence and reinforcing the link between citizenship and civic loyalty.
In order to enter into force, the proposal must pass through parliamentary committee stages in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, where it can be amended or blocked. It would then require final approval from both chambers before being promulgated by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, who visited Modena alongside Meloni in the days following the attack.
Opposition parties have strongly criticised the plan, warning that it risks creating a two-tier model of citizenship based on origin. Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein, one of the main opposition figures on the centre-left, said the proposal represented “a dangerous drift away from constitutional equality, introducing a principle that would differentiate between citizens depending on where they come from.”
Hardline positions taken by the League, according to analysts, reflect an attempt to respond to concerns among large segments of Italians dissatisfied with government policies on migration and borders.
An Ipsos survey published in January 2026 found that around 46 per cent of Italians believe security has worsened over the past three years, while only a minority report improvements; security remains one of the country’s top concerns alongside immigration and social marginalisation.
Further Ipsos polling from 2024-2025 similarly highlights a persistent gap between strong support for tougher policies and scepticism about their effectiveness, with many respondents rating current measures negatively despite high concern over security and migration. The Modena attack has now joined the list of incidents fuelling Italy’s wider immigration policies debate, even where — as Piantedosi himself has acknowledged — the protagonist is a fully fledged Italian citizen rather than an irregular migrant.
