Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has directed Deputy Interior Minister Haralambos Athanassiou to proceed with a string of amendments that would repeal citizenship rights for second-generation migrants, a law passed by a previous government to meet a Council of State ruling as well as with European Union legislation.
Known as the Ragousis law after former Interior Minister Yiannis Ragousis, the citizenship law was ratified by Parliament in 2010. It allowed those born to immigrant parents legally living in Greece for at least five years to be granted Greek citizenship provided they had studied at a Greek school for a minimum period of six years.
On Feb. 5, Council of State deemed certain provisions of the Ragousis law unconstitutional. This included granting the right to vote in municipal and regional elections to foreign nationals holding a temporary resident permit, as well as granting Greek citizenship to foreign nationals born in Greece.
With the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party rising rapidly in popularity for its anti-immigrant stance – which critics said includes beating them – Samaras is moving to get tougher on immigrants too, including ongoing roundups looking for illegal immigrants to deport them.
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