ROME — An Italian parliamentary panel gave initial approval Wednesday to a plan to fingerprint everyone in the country, a move that could defuse criticism over a mandatory program to fingerprint Gypsies.
The House of Deputies finance commission gave the go-ahead to funding for fingerprinting starting in 2010 for national identity cards, which are required for Italian citizens and foreigners living in Italy. Now, the cards feature the cardholder’s photo.
The campaign to fingerprint tens of thousands of Gypsies, also known as Roma, who live in ramshackle camps on the outskirts of many Italian cities, earned a sharp rebuke from the European Union and human- rights groups.
The government insists the program is needed to establish who is living in the country illegally and to spur efforts to get Gypsy children to attend school.
The parliamentary commission’s move might ease some of the international criticism by requiring fingerprints for everybody.
But Interior Minister Robert Maroni insisted fingerprinting of Gypsies is going forward as part of a crackdown on crime, which many Italians blame on foreigners.
