The Council of Ministers today approved the ‘Code of International Relations’, which aims to consolidate the provisions relating to the remit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs into a single legislative text. The Code brings together and coordinates legislation relating to international relations and the protection and promotion of the interests of Italian citizens and businesses abroad, helping to simplify the regulatory framework and make it more coherent.
The Council of Ministers has also established the ‘Citizenship Service’ within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a new Directorate-General which will be responsible for processing applications for Italian citizenship submitted by residents abroad. The centralisation of these functions is intended to facilitate a uniform and more controllable management of procedures, not least with a view to preventing irregularities more effectively.
These measures form part of a wider process of streamlining and simplifying the Ministry’s administrative activities, strongly championed by Minister Tajani, with the aim of ensuring greater clarity and consistency in procedures and enabling the diplomatic and consular network to focus its activities on providing services to Italian citizens and businesses abroad.
