A compelling case for overseas constituencies

 

I’ve lived in Italy for 23 years. Now the 15-year rule has been lifted, I am once again on the UK electoral roll  – and it feels good. Brexit had made me a voter of nowhere. But it makes little sense to me to be added to a constituency I don’t live in. How can my vote count, and should it count there? How can an MP effectively represent a small number of remote constituents who may not even share the same continent?  

Much can be learnt from Italy, one of a small but growing number of countries to have overseas constituencies. Massimo Ungaro, of the liberal Italia Viva party, was an overseas MP from 2018-2022, living in London and representing Italians in Europe. He gave the Citizens’ Rights All-Party Parliamentary Group, (APPG), a valuable insight into the Italian system, both its benefits and its weaknesses. The APPG, is chaired by New Europeans UK who, along with Unlock Democracy, is campaigning for the introduction of overseas constituencies to represent British citizens living abroad.

Massimo Ungaro

Italians overseas

About 6 million – that’s 10% of Italy’s population – live abroad. Since unification in 1861, Italy has had a long history of mass emigration all over the world. Where I am in Veneto, an annual event marks two large waves of emigration to Brazil, often whole families, working their way out of poverty and proud of their contribution in South America. These days, around 3 million Italians live in Europe, with London overtaking Buenos Aires as Italy’s “5^th city”, Massimo told us. His constituents were very diverse: car factory workers in Germany, second generations of coal miners in Belgium, restaurant owners in the Spain and the Canaries, those in finance in the UK… Worldwide, the majority are of working age, with many returning when they are older.  In any event, in Italy it is easy to have a picture of who they are. President Sergio Matarella regularly greets his “fellow citizens” around the world in his speeches, calling them a “soft power” of “inestimable value”.

The overseas register, (AIRE)

Italians – the same as everyone else – if they live in Italy, must register their residency at their town hall. If they live abroad they must register with AIRE. As much a right as a duty, in both cases, you are automatically on the electoral roll and receive voting papers. Online registration in AIRE is  simple. Whilst compulsory, Massimo admits it’s not a perfect system; large numbers don’t register. A disincentive is losing access to the highly-valued Italian state healthcare. Brexit, on the other hand, was a big incentive to register! What appeared to be an “explosion” of Italians in the UK was a rush to register in order to protect rights.  

The Italian system is not flawless but, by contrast, the UK has no such means of counting its citizens abroad. 

Italy’s 4 overseas constituencies

Constituency	Population (2022 figures)	Seats in the Chamber of Deputies	Seats in the Senate of the Republic
Europe, inc. Russia, Turkey & Greenland	3,189,905	3	1
South America	1,804,291	2	1
North & Central America	505,567	2	1
Africa, Asia, Oceania & Antartica	306,305	1	1

 

The two houses of the Italian parliament have equal power, unlike in the UK, with a total of 12 representatives for the overseas electorate. It was reduced from 18 as part of an overall reduction in a recent constitutional reform. Italy still has one of the highest numbers of overseas MPs amongst the 17 countries who have them. Massimo argues the French system is better, “France copied our model and improved it!”, with 11 overseas constituencies with one seat each. 

With so few overseas MPs, aren’t they just symbolic?

It’s challenging and exhausting trying to meet the needs of constituents who are so diverse and with a vast geographical spread. “But it’s definitely better to have them than not to them”, Massimo feels, as “they are the only ones who are sensitive and knowledgable about the issues.” This resonates with me. We have persistent Brexit-related problems in Italy which no one is truly understanding. And there is little awareness that the Withdrawal Agreement leaves us with fewer rights than other third country nationals. No one is fighting our corner! 

Overseas MPs bring “diversity and novelty” to parliament, says Massimo, being younger, with more females, and more English speakers. They sit on normal committees which he confesses dilutes their “bargaining power” and he had campaigned hard for special committees. Nonetheless, overseas MPs help Italy “foster economic ties, with improved connections”, treating constituents as a “resource to be valued and supported”. And with their own representatives, Italians abroad are now less “unhappy” about paying taxes. This was a very long-held gripe which will be familiar to Britons around the world who remain UK taxpayers.

Constituents abroad are also significant consumers, for example what Massimo calls “turismo di ritorno” – Italians visiting family back home. Also through its overseas communities, Italy targets its promotion of “Roots tourism”. This has an important role in creating new business and jobs, post-Covid, often in rural, off-the-beaten track locations. Meanwhile, all I see is Brexit turning away its “doorstep” consumers. I visit less frequently, no longer have groups of students to accompany, have been forced to purchase elsewhere and like thousands of others have had a UK bank account closed! We have essentially been “disconnected” to the detriment of UK business as well as ourselves.

Main issues for overseas Italians: 

• Tax!
• Access to consular services
• Maintaining Italian culture and language

What has been achieved:

Non-residents are taxed on income and assets in Italy. Overseas Italians particularly dislike a punitive property tax called IMU. It is especially harsh on lower income Italians who inherited houses, but it has now been reduced by 50% making it much more palatable. 

Austerity measures following two financial crises led to a 30% reduction in consular agents around the world coinciding with the overseas population doubling from 3 to 6 million. Nonetheless, more recently significant improvements have been made, and include the opening of Manchester consulate in 2022. Italians abroad rely on consulates for vital services such as renewal of passports, identity cards, driving licences and many other bureaucratic procedures.  

Giving Italians and their families access to Italian lessons is a work in progress, with Italian being put on the school curricular and the opening of, as yet, a handful of Italian schools.

Burning issues for Italians, of course, won’t necessarily match those of their British counterparts. For example, Italy favours family reunification while the UK has just made it even harder, if not impossible, for returning Britons with non-British family members because of the new, very steep minimum income requirement. The unfairness of frozen UK state pensions in some countries also clearly demonstrates the need for representation.

Voter turnout 

At around 30-35%, it is about half of the average for Italians in Italy. In 2006 when Italians abroad got their first opportunity to elect their own representatives, it was just over 40%. “Overseas turnout is understandably lower as some will feel more detached”, says Massimo, but to us it sounded impressive! Dr Ruvi Ziegler, Chair of New Europeans UK commented: “The relatively high turnout among Italian overseas constituents compared with Britons can be explained at least in part by the fact that they have dedicated representatives in the Italian legislature.” 

Voting method

Voting is by post except for European elections which must be at consulates. Massimo admits there is “good and bad” with postal votes, including concerns over fraud. Italy is looking at online voting – now that there have been “great improvements in technology” and security.  

What Italy thinks of its citizens abroad summed up on a postage stamp – literally!
The first overseas constituencies and postal vote were commemorated with a postage stamp. 3.5m were produced representing the number of Italians abroad. The Minister of Communications said that Italians abroad were the first ambassadors around the world of Italy’s working and creative capabilities, and the stamp was in recognition of their importance.

Brexit 

With around 700,000 Italians in the UK, Brexit was a significant workload for Massimo including issues outside of the Withdrawal Agreement such as convertibility of private pensions, voting rights and driving licence exchanges. Britons in Italy are very grateful to him for being very vocal on driving licences, speaking up for us as well as Italians in the UK, helping to get the bilateral agreement over the line.

Support network

Apart from MPs and consular services there is a “whole system” of support for Italians around the globe. Since 1985, there have been regional committees, (Comites) which interact with consulates and government, and a General Council, (CGIE). The UK Comites became an essential source of Brexit-related information and assistance. No such system exists the other way round. And the standard response from UK consular services if you have Withdrawal Agreement problems is find yourself a lawyer! 

Residency-based voting rights

Whilst Massimo Ungaro was talking about nationality-based rights it was pointed out that as a result of Brexit, UK citizens in the EU joined the estimated 22 million non-EU citizens legally resident in the EU but with no local voting rights. Being one of them, this is a painful feeling! Ruvi of New Europeans UK said that they do not see residency and citizenship voting rights “as mutually exclusive; in fact, both make you a relevant voter”. Overseas MPs can help the push for reciprocal agreements. 

A point of interest

In 2006 – their first vote of their own representatives – Italians abroad did not vote as expected with the exception of South America. With the overseas results, Romano Prodi was able to form a centre-left government, albeit with a wafer-thin majority. Mirko Tremaglia, former fascist and Minister for Italians in the World in Berlusconi’s centre-right government had fought very hard to introduce the postal vote and overseas constituencies. Massimo said before that no one really knew what Italians overseas “thought or wanted” and, in fact, “they achieved this twice, helping the left gain a majority!” This is indeed very interesting in the context of UK politics today.

And finally

Overseas constituencies for the UK may seem like “light years away” as someone put it, but Massimo Ungaro reminded us to ”look at where Italy is now compared to 30 years ago” and concluded that he felt “the UK is on the right path”.  Yes, we have “different histories” but there is  every reason to have a shared commitment to “improving the quality of democracy.” Wouldn’t dedicated representatives for overseas citizens also lead to a better global Britain?

 

Clarissa Killwick, English teacher, Italy
Citizens’ rights campaigner and volunteer,
Brexpats – Hear Our Voice & co-founder of Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy