With the family law now settled, the Grand and General Council (Consiglio Grande e Generale) turns the page. After a politically charged day that saw the green light given to the measure aimed at tackling the country’s declining birth rate — with Rete, Repubblica Futura and Domani – Motus Liberi abstaining — the Chamber reconvenes today and picks up from paragraph 7, the section dedicated to the ratification of decrees.
The first item on the table is delegated decree 115 of 10 August, which amends the law governing the entry and residence of foreigners in the Republic. Far from a minor issue, it brings the debate back to residency permits, a subject that has long been at the heart of San Marino’s political discussion.
The decree specifically targets atypical tax residencies and those granted for entrepreneurial purposes. Among the changes is a clarification on the substitute tax — set at a minimum of 10,000 euros — which will also apply to those obtaining residency through family reunification, with dependent children excluded. The decree also scraps, for certain workers holding temporary permits, the requirement to periodically leave the Republic and re-enter. On entrepreneurial residencies, meanwhile, both the reference to sectors identified through Ateco codes and a specific requirement tied to age 40 have been dropped.
The measure has already become a point of contention between majority and opposition. Repubblica Futura is primarily challenging the approach taken and is asking when a comprehensive reform of residency rules will finally arrive. Domani – Motus Liberi, for its part, describes it as a kind of “mini-reform” and raises a more political question: before using residency as a bargaining chip, the party argues, San Marino should first decide which businesses and which investments it actually wants to attract.
Yet the residency decree is just one item on a council session that remains long and packed with sensitive issues.
Further down the agenda is the second reading of the law on advance healthcare directives and end-of-life provisions, a citizens’ initiative bill bound to reignite a heated political and ethical debate in the Chamber.
Also on the docket are the reform of preventive legality review, new tax provisions for the banking, financial and insurance sectors, and amendments to the Council’s own regulations. Lawmakers are also awaiting a report from the State Congress on initiatives to protect state interests and on asset recovery.
Among the politically most sensitive items is the debate on reports concerning the child sexual abuse case, while a bill on preventing and combating violence and harassment in the workplace will have its first reading, with a request for urgent procedure.
The agenda also revisits some of the issues that formed the backdrop to the family law debate itself. These include housing, with a bill on support measures for social housing, as well as reform of the bodies responsible for assessing disability and targeted job placement.
Rounding out the session’s agenda are the report on the state of justice in 2025 and the Arengo Petitions (Istanze d’Arengo).
After the lengthy debate over family policy, then, the Council has virtually no time to catch its breath. Starting today, work resumes with residency permits, but just around the corner lie some of the session’s thorniest dossiers: end-of-life care, justice, housing, workplace violence and child abuse. The second half of the session promises to be considerably more political than the first.
