(ANSA) - Rome, June 15 - Proponents of the long-awaited 'ius soli' ('law of the soil' in Latin) bill granting Italian citizenship to foreign babies born on Italian soil and children of immigrants who have spent five years in the Italian school system defended the provisions from criticism as they hit the floor of the Senate on Thursday, nearly two years after being approved by the Lower House. "It is not just a matter of granting citizenship to children born in Italy, but also to those who are in fact already Italian because they have lived and studied in our country," Senator Pina Maturani of the ruling Democratic Party (PD) said. "It is therefore a duty to approve this law as quickly as possible," she added, condemning protests by opposition parties that allegedly exploited a decision to bring forward the debate for political ends. Minister for Relations with Parliament Anna Finocchiaro of the PD likewise condemned the protests staged by the anti-immigrant Northern League on Thursday, describing them as "indecent". "How sad to put the search for consensus before civility," she wrote on Twitter. Senator Maurizio Gasparri of centre-right Forza Italia took the opposite stance, describing the bill as "unacceptable". He accused the PD and Premier Paolo Gentiloni of "caring more about the foreigners who enter Italy illegally than about our own people".

The law would only encourage an "invasion" of foreigners and the "Islamisation" of Italy, Gasparri said. Party colleague and former equal opportunities minister Mara Carfagna instead took issue with the priority given to the ius soli bill in the absence of an effective model of integration for new immigrants to Italy.

