The Constitutional Court in Italy has ruled that children should not automatically be given their father's surname at birth.
Instead, the court said, every child should be assigned both their parents' surnames since no agreement is reached on one of the two surnames.
The ruling on Wednesday came after a long-standing tradition in Italy where all children are named only after their father.
The long-standing norm, was called by the court as, 'discriminatory and harmful to the identity' of the child', saying that both parents should be in a position to chose their child's surname.
New legislation is due to be passed in Italy's parliament in alignment with the ruling of the court.
President of the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP), Renate Gebhard, said:
"This issue has been dragging on from one parliamentary term to the next, it is time to decide. It is now up to Parliament to make this leap forward in terms of civilisation," added Laura Boldrini, an MP for the Democratic Party. Parents have equal responsibility and equal rights, no more discrimination that penalises mothers and children."
Elena Bonetti, Italy's Family Minister said on Facebook:
"We need to give substance [to the decision] and it is a high priority and urgent task of politics to do so."
[Based on reporting by: euronews.]
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