Everything you need to know about the referendums of 8 and 9 June 2025

On Sunday 8 and Monday 9 June, the five popular abrogative referendums will be voted on , in conjunction with the possible run-off of the municipal elections (the first round of which will take place on Sunday 25 and Monday 26). The first four questions, promoted by the Cgil, concern work , and essentially aim to abolish the Jobs Act, while a fifth question, promoted by +Europa and a series of committees, is on citizenship and aims to reduce the years needed to obtain it from ten to five.

The polls will be open on Sunday from 7am to 11pm and on Monday from 7am to 3pm .

The political battle is being fought above all around turnout: as per Article 75 of the Constitution, the quorum that makes this type of consultation valid is 50 percent plus one of those entitled to vote, a threshold never reached in the last thirty years (except in the case of the question on water in 2011).

Read also:

Here's a guide, card by card:

Question 1: Jobs Act (green card)

The first of the four referendum questions on work calls for the cancellation of the rules on dismissals under the contract with increasing protections introduced in 2015 with the Renzi government's Jobs Act, applied to those hired from 7 March 2015 onwards.

In companies with more than 15 employees, in several cases of unlawful dismissal, there is no reinstatement in the workplace provided for by Article 18 of the Workers' Statute of 1970, but financial compensation that can reach up to a maximum of 36 months.

In case of a victory of the yes vote (and a valid quorum) , if the individual dismissal had been given for a reason deemed insufficient by the judge, the compensation would be reduced to a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 24 months' salary - thus lowering the maximum amount, as provided for by the Fornero law - while in the case of undue collective dismissals (i.e. cases with at least five employees), the workers would be reinstated in their jobs, and could possibly agree on compensation from a more advantageous position.

Question 2: Protections in small businesses (orange card)

The second question, of the four referendums on work promoted by the Cgil, calls for more protection for workers in small businesses and in particular concerns the elimination of the cap on severance pay in companies with fewer than 16 employees.

In the event of a dismissal considered unlawful, according to laws 604/1966 and 108/1990, only monetary compensation is provided and the person is not reinstated in the workplace, which is instead triggered only if the dismissal is for discriminatory reasons. The referendum does not change the nature of the protection but wants to eliminate the maximum compensation limit: today a worker can obtain a maximum of 6 months' salary, even if a judge deems the termination of the employment relationship unfounded. In the event of a victory for the yes vote (and a valid quorum) , the judge would establish the amount of compensation without a predefined maximum.

Question 3: Fixed-term contracts (grey card)

The third of the four referendum questions on work still concerns the Jobs Act, but also one of the latest interventions of the Meloni government on work, and asks to reinstate the obligation to provide reasons for the use of fixed-term contracts.

When the duration of the employment relationship is equal to or less than twelve months, the proponents would like employers to be required to indicate the reason in the contract, which is not required today: the obligation was eliminated by the Renzi government in 2015 with the Jobs Act, then reintroduced in 2018 with the so-called "Dignity Decree" of the Conte government and then modified again in 2023 with the Labor Decree of the Meloni government, which excluded the obligation to provide reasons for renewals and extensions for contracts up to 12 months and introduced new reasons for contracts with a duration between 12 and 24 months (including that for technical, organizational or production needs identified by the parties in the absence of contractual provision, which can be stipulated until the end of the year).

Question 4: Safety at work (pink card)

The fourth referendum question deals with health and safety at work and concerns the so-called Consolidated Law of 2008 and in particular contracts and subcontracts. It asks to modify the rules that prevent in the event of an accident from extending liability to the contracting company.

To better understand what we are talking about, the example given by Avvenire may be useful: "If today a company that deals with shoe sales proceeded with the renovation of its store, contracting the work to a construction company, it would not be jointly responsible for the damages to be compensated to a bricklayer who hurts himself using a pickaxe. This is because the shoe dealer does a different job than a construction company. The proponents would like the co-responsibility to exist in any case. [...] The advantage would certainly be to push any contracting company to be more vigilant about the activities and conditions of the workers of the contracting companies. [...] On the other hand, the contracting companies would be required to have a "competence" that they cannot have in evaluating the work of the companies to which they contract a job".

Question 5: Citizenship (yellow card)

This question modifies the 1992 law (restoring a requirement introduced in 1865) that regulates the granting of Italian citizenship to non-EU foreigners. The proponents ask to halve the time of legal residence in Italy to be able to apply for citizenship from 10 to 5 years.

The promoting committee writes that the proposal "would align Italy with the majority of European regulations", and in fact the ten-year term is among the longest in the EU. However, Italy is the European country that naturalizes the largest number of people overall, also because in other countries you are a citizen because you are born in that territory, even if to foreign parents. According to Eurostat data , in 2022 they were about a quarter of the total (about a tenth of the "new Italians" come from Argentina and Brazil and it is likely that they obtained citizenship through the ius sanguinis ). Italy is fifth in terms of number of citizenships granted in proportion to the population (in first place is Sweden, at the bottom of the list Estonia and Slovakia).

The reduction of the residency requirement to five years could also indirectly simplify the process for many foreign minors: today, a person born in Italy to non-Italian parents can apply for citizenship upon reaching the age of eighteen if he or she has resided legally and continuously in Italy up to that point.

How parties vote

The centre-right is united in its invitation to boycott the polls (with the exception of "Noi Moderati" which is inviting people to vote five noes, as secretary Mara Carfagna said).

Read also:

The situation in the opposition is more confusing .

The official line of the Democratic Party is five "Yes", although the reformist wing has said that it will not vote in three of the four referendums on work. "We will vote yes to the referendum on citizenship and yes to the question on contracting companies. But we will not vote on the other 3 questions, because the condition of work in Italy depends on the future, not on a sterile showdown with the past". In short, the first opposition party will arrive at the electoral appointment divided.

The 5 Star Movement is for voting "Yes" to the questions on work and for leaving freedom of choice in the question on citizenship, even if President Giuseppe Conte has announced his "Yes" to that as well.

Avs goes straight: five "Yes".

Action will vote "No" to the questions on work and "Yes" to citizenship.

Italia Viva will vote "Yes" to citizenship and "No" to three questions on work, leaving freedom of choice on the fourth question (the one on the responsibility of the contracting company in the event of accidents to employees of contracted and subcontracted companies).

To this last question +Europa says "Yes", together obviously with the one on citizenship, while for the others it is "No".

As for the unions , the Cgil voted five "Yes". The secretary of the Cisl, Daniela Fumarola, announced that she will not go to vote, while the secretary of the Uil , Pier Paolo Bombardieri, explained: "For two questions (illegitimate dismissals and safety at work) we will answer Yes, for the others we have left freedom of conscience".

More on these topics: