Argentine President Javier Milei met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome’s presidential palace on Saturday, their fifth official encounter since he took office. The meeting had an added component aside from bilateral ties, as local media outlets reported that Meloni’s government granted Italian citizenship to Milei and his sister, Presidency General Secretary Karina Milei.

In February, Milei said in an interview that he felt “75% Italian,” as three of his grandparents hailed from different parts of the country.

Italy’s citizenship laws are based on ius sanguinis — blood ties — meaning that people with distant Italian relatives can get a passport from that country. The flip side of this is that the requirements for people born in Italy to foreign parents are much tougher. 

Milei’s Italian citizenship has sparked controversy in the country. Riccardo Magi, from the opposition party +Europa, said granting Italian citizenship to Milei was “yet another slap in the face to girls and boys who were born or live here permanently and have been waiting for citizenship for years and years.”

“Have you lived in Italy since you were born? Do you attend schools in the country? Do you speak Italian but your parents are foreign-born? Then, you can get citizenship in your dreams,” Magi asked on an X post,. He added that Milei has “hardly ever set foot in Italy” and that his friendship with Meloni was the sole reason he and his sister got the citizenship so quickly. 

The Argentine president and the Italian PM  have had a close relationship ever since they first met. When they met in Buenos Aires in November, Mileigifted her a statuette of himself wielding a chainsaw.

According to a communiqué by the Italian government released after the pair met, Milei and Meloni set a goal to develop a “ 2025-2030 action plan allowing the deepening of the already broad areas of cooperation between the two nations.” They also spoke about judicial and security cooperation, the fight against transnational organized crime, and Italy’s willingness to increase its economic-commercial presence in Argentina, starting with the energy and other high-value-added sectors.

Milei arrived in Italy on Friday. He first held a meeting with the CEO and Director of External Affairs of British-Australian multinational company Rio Tinto Group, who announced a US$ 2.5 billion investment to expand a lithium project in Salta, Argentina. The investment will be made through the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI, by its Spanish acronym). The Argentine President also received the “Milton Friedman” International Award at the Wedekind Palace and gave a speech at Atreju 2024, a festival organized by the far-right Italian youth. 

Milei is set to return to Argentina on Sunday, after giving interviews to two Italian media outlets.