The Italian parliament has been asked to consider a bill introducing the concept of remigration into national law after campaigners submitted more than 150,000 signatures in support of a citizens’ legislative initiative.
The proposal, drafted by the Remigration and Reconquest Committee (Comitato Remigrazione e Riconquista), comfortably exceeded the 50,000 signatures required under Article 71 of the Italian Constitution for citizens to formally present a draft law to parliament. Organisers said they had gathered about three times that number.
Remigration is a concept promoted by parts of Europe’s patriotic movement that broadly refers to policies aimed at encouraging or compelling migrants to leave a country. The term originally described the voluntary return of migrants to their countries of origin, but from the 1990s it was taken up by nationalist movements in France and Germany, where it came to mean large-scale, state-driven expulsion and has been associated with the “great replacement” theory.
The Italian proposal, made up of 24 articles across six chapters, would establish a legal framework centred on the immediate expulsion of illegal migrants, incentives for voluntary returns through a proposed Voluntary Remigration Pact, the creation of an Institute of Remigration, tighter restrictions on migrant rescue non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the Mediterranean and measures encouraging the return of people of Italian descent from abroad.
It also links migration policy to demographic measures aimed at increasing Italy’s birth rate through greater support for Italian families, including an Italian Birth Rate Fund reserved for citizens and priority for Italian families in the allocation of social housing and nursery places. The text would also restore citizenship by descent, iure sanguinis, without generational limits.
Submitting the signatures does not mean the proposal will automatically become law. After the signatures are verified, the bill will be assigned to the relevant parliamentary committee, which will examine the text before deciding whether to send it to the Chamber of Deputies for debate.
If approved by both the Chamber and the Senate, it would then require the signature of the President of the Republic to become law. While parliament must consider citizens’ initiatives, lawmakers remain free to amend or reject them, and only a small number have ultimately become law without government support.
The initiative was launched by the Remigration and Reconquest Committee, whose leading figures include members of CasaPound Italia, the nationalist movement that openly identifies with Italy’s fascist tradition, as well as activists from other nationalist organisations.
Campaign organisers collected the signatures over roughly six months after launching the initiative at the end of 2025 before formally depositing them at the Chamber of Deputies on June 30. An earlier attempt to present the text at a press conference in the Chamber on January 30 was called off after opposition MPs occupied the press room. The campaign also held a march in Rome in mid-June that organisers said drew more than 10,000 people.
After delivering the signatures, the committee’s president Luca Marsella said the campaign had entered parliament “with our faces and 150,000 signatures” and vowed to keep fighting until the bill was “discussed and approved”. He described the campaign as proof that support for remigration had grown beyond activist circles despite what he said were repeated attempts by political opponents and parts of the media to marginalise the initiative.
The committee has presented the initiative not only as a challenge to Italy’s left-wing opposition but also to the governing centre-right coalition. Organisers acknowledge that the Meloni government has reduced irregular migrant arrivals through agreements with North African countries and tougher border controls — arrivals reached 14,372 by June 30, 2026, down from 30,060 in the same period a year earlier, according to interior ministry figures — but they argue that limiting new immigration is insufficient without policies aimed at reversing decades of migration through remigration.
Despite clearing the constitutional signature threshold, the proposal faces considerable political hurdles. Citizens’ initiatives rarely become law in Italy without the support of the governing majority, and neither Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia) nor its coalition partners have backed it.
Even if the bill does not ultimately pass, the initiative marks the first time a detailed remigration proposal — which organisers say is the first of its kind in Europe — has entered Italy’s formal legislative process, bringing a concept that until recently remained largely confined to activist circles into the country’s parliamentary debate.
