(by Massimiliano D'Elia) Heartfelt, sumptuous, all heart and pride for Italy, so the speech of Prime Minister Meloni in front of the Chamber where there was a veiled emotion: before starting to speak for 70 uninterrupted minutes he said between the lines to his two deputies sitting next to him: "I'm dying ... !! ". Drank a sip of water, she then began the speech of her river that excited millions of supporters but also non-sympathizers, literally glued to TV or on social media during live streaming.
A clear and direct discourse on the hottest situations affecting Italy inside and outside Italy, words that are often "strong" connoted by pragmatism and a very high sense of identity for a nation that has to start sailing again at full speed - perhaps with new sails since they are now torn - Italy being, as Meloni imagines it, the most beautiful ship in the world. In this regard, the training ship of the Italian Navy, Vespucci, has been called into question, which on two occasions, in the open sea, crossed two American aircraft carriers, receiving certificates of deep admiration and respect for the unusual beauty.
A speech that, at times, received applause and appreciation also from the opposition who, in several passages, were forced to stand up (15 times) to honor the memory of many Italians and Italians who have lost their life for having defended and believed in the freedom of the republican institutions. The only one who always sat and never applauded was Laura Boldrini, visibly upset by the words of the Prime Minister.
On the immigration chapter, Meloni proposes a Mattei plan for Africa fully implementing the third phase of the European mission Sophia. “You don't enter Italy illegally, but legally with the flow decrees. It is our intention to recover the original proposal of the Sophia naval mission of the European Union which in the third phase envisaged, even if never implemented, provided for the blocking of the departures of boats from North Africa. We intend to propose it at European level and implement it in agreement with the authorities of North Africa, accompanied by the creation on African territories of hotspots, managed by international organizations, where it is possible to examine asylum requests and distinguish who has the right to be accepted in Europe from whom that right does not have it.
Because we do not intend in any way to question the right of asylum for those fleeing wars and persecutions. Our goal is to prevent Italy from continuing to be screened by smugglers on immigration. And then there will be one last thing to do, perhaps the most important: remove the causes that lead migrants, especially the youngest, to abandon their land, their cultural roots, their family to seek a better life in Europe. Next 27 October will be the sixtieth anniversary of the death of Enrico Mattei, a great Italian who was one of the architects of post-war reconstruction, capable of entering into agreements of mutual convenience with nations all over the world. Here, I believe that Italy must promote a "Mattei plan" for Africa, a virtuous model of collaboration and growth between the European Union and African nations, also to counter the worrying spread of Islamist radicalism, especially in the area sub-Saharan. We would like to recover our strategic role in the Mediterranean after years of retreating."
Sul fascism was clear: "We will fight any form of racism and anti-Semitism. I have never felt sympathy for any regime, including fascism".
On racial laws of 1938"A shame that will mark our people forever ". And here the president condemns those militant anti-fascists who "with wrenches killed innocent boys" in the 70s.
The center-right government after the votes passed, therefore, the examination in the Chamber of Deputies, obtained the 118 of Fdi, the 65 of the League while 42 of the 44 deputies were present from Fi, Pichetto Fratin and Cappellacci were on a mission. Another nine votes came from Noi Moderati and one from Micaela Biancofiore, enrolled in the Mixed group. Instead, Luigi Gallo, elected from the list promoted by Cateno De Luca, abstained, as did the 4 parliamentarians of linguistic minorities, as announced in the Chamber. For the minorities, Carotenuto from M5s and Dem Morassut and Amendola were absent at the time of the vote.
Today the vote of confidence in the Senate of the Republic where the majority does not enjoy the same tranquility considering the potential 115 votes in favor. The results of the votes of the senators for life are awaited.
Later in the day, Meloni then called the American president Joe Biden. In Joe Biden's congratulatory call to Giorgia Meloni, the two leaders "they underlined the strong relationship between the United States and Italy, and expressed their readiness to work together in the transatlantic alliance to face common challenges ”. The White House reports. The two also "they discussed their commitment to continue to provide assistance to Ukraine, to hold Russia accountable for its aggression, to address the challenges posed by China, and to ensure sustainable and affordable energy sources ”.
The reactions
Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister for Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, says he was moved. "It also happened to me at the Youth Action Congress in Viterbo ...". And like him the other ministers who come from the Brothers of Italy, "those who know the story of Giorgia Meloni but also of the center-right as it presented itself in these elections already know that there is a turning point ". "A circle has come full circle ", also summarizes the president of the Senate Ignatius LaRussa.
"Even a girl from Garbatella can become prime minister ", says the next Fdi group leader, foti. On the day of Melons, excited for her speech ("I'm a mori '...", he says before drinking some water during his speech in the House), there is the pride of a ruling class that has come to power.
"Today he has given hope to this country ", he claims Crosetto who with La Russa and Meloni founded Fratelli d'Italia.
Full speech
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen,
I have spoken many times in this room, as a parliamentarian, as vice president of the Chamber and as a Minister of Youth. Yet her solemnity is such that I have never been able to intervene without a feeling of emotion and profound respect. It is all the more true today that I am addressing you as Prime Minister to ask you to express your confidence in a government led by me. A great responsibility for those who must obtain and deserve that trust and a great responsibility for those who must grant or deny that trust. These are the founding moments of our democracy to which we should never get used, and I thank from now on those who will express themselves according to their convictions, whatever the choice they make.
A sincere thanks goes to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella who, in following up on the indication clearly expressed by the Italians last September 25, did not want to miss his precious advice. And a heartfelt thanks goes to the parties of the center-right coalition, to the Brothers of Italy, the Lega, Forza Italia, Noi Moderati and their leaders. To that cdx that after having established itself in the last elections gave life to this government in one of the shortest times in republican history. I believe that this is the most tangible sign of a cohesion that, under the test of facts, always manages to overcome the different sensitivities in the name of a higher interest. The speed of these days was for us not only a natural fact, but also a duty towards the Italians: the extremely difficult contingency in which we find ourselves does not allow us to hesitate or waste time. And we won't.
And for this I want to thank my predecessor Mario Draghi, who both nationally and internationally offered his utmost willingness to ensure a fast and peaceful handover with the new government, despite the fact that, ironically, he was led by the president of the he is the only political force in opposition to the executive he chaired. There is a lot of embroidering on this aspect, but I think there is nothing strange about it. So it should always happen, and so it happens in great democracies.
Among the many burdens that I feel weighing on my shoulders today, there can also be that of being the first woman to head the government in this nation. When I dwell on the significance of this fact, I inevitably find myself thinking of the responsibility I have in front of the many women who at this moment face great and unjust difficulties to assert their talent or the right to see their daily sacrifices appreciated. But I also think, with reverence, of those who built with the boards of their example the ladder that today allows me to climb and break the heavy glass roof over our heads. Women who dared, out of impetus, out of reason, or out of love. Like Cristina (Trivulzio di Belgioioso), elegant organizer of lounges and barricades. Or like Rosalie (Montmasson), stubborn to the point of starting with the Thousand who made Italy. Like Alfonsina (Strada) who pedaled hard against the wind of prejudice. Like Maria (Montessori) or Grazia (Deledda) who with their example threw open the gates of education for girls across the country.
And then Tina (Anselmi), Nilde (Jotti), Rita (Levi Montalcini), Oriana (Fallaci), Ilaria (Alpi), Mariagrazia (Cutuli), Fabiola (Giannotti), Marta (Cartabia), Elisabetta (Casellati), Samantha (Cristoforetti) ), Chiara (Corbella Petrillo). Thank you! Thank you for showing the value of Italian women, as I hope to be able to do too.
But my heartfelt thanks cannot fail to go to the Italian people: to those who have decided not to miss the electoral appointment and have expressed their vote, allowing the full realization of the democratic path, which they want in the people, and only in the people, the holder of sovereignty. With regret, however, for the many who have renounced the exercise of this civic duty enshrined in the Constitution. Citizens who increasingly consider their vote useless, because, they say, so much then others decide, they decide in buildings, in exclusive circles ... And, unfortunately, it has often been so in the last 11 years, with a succession of fully government majorities. legitimate on the constitutional level, but dramatically distant from the indications of the voters. Today we are interrupting this great Italian anomaly, giving life to a political government that is fully representative of the popular will.
We intend to do so, fully assuming the rights and duties that belong to those who win the elections: to be a parliamentary majority and a government structure. For 5 years. Doing it to the best of our ability, always putting Italy's interest ahead of partisan and party interests. We will not use the vote of millions of Italians to replace one system of power with another that is different and opposed. Our goal is to release the best energies of this nation and to guarantee to Italians, to all Italians, a future of greater freedom, justice, well-being, security. And if to do so we have to upset some potentates, or make choices that may not be immediately understood by some citizens, we will not back down. Because we certainly do not lack courage.
We presented ourselves in the electoral campaign with a coalition government framework program and with more articulated programs of the individual parties. The voters chose the center-right and within the coalition they rewarded certain proposals more than others. We will keep those commitments, because the bond between representative is represented is the basis of any democracy. I know well that some observers and opposition political forces do not like our proposals, but I do not intend to indulge the drift according to which democracy belongs to someone more than to someone else, or that an unwelcome electoral outcome should not be accepted and left. on the other hand, the realization by any means is prevented.
In recent days there have been many, even outside our national borders, who have said that they want to monitor the new Italian government. I would say that they can spend their time better: this parliament has strong and combative opposition forces more than capable of making their voices heard, without the need, I hope, of external help. And I hope that those forces agree with me that those from abroad who say they want to watch over Italy do not disrespect me or this government, disrespect the Italian people who, I want to say clearly, have no lessons to learn. .
Italy is fully part of the West and its alliance system. Founding state of the European Union, the Eurozone and the Atlantic Alliance, member of the G7 and even before all this, cradle, together with Greece, of Western civilization and its system of values based on freedom, equality and democracy; precious fruits that spring from the classical and Judaic Christian roots of Europe. We are the heirs of St. Benedict, an Italian, the main patron of the whole of Europe.
Europe. Let me first of all thank the leaders of the EU institutions, the President of the Council Charles Michel, the President of the Commission Ursula Von der Leyen, the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, the President of the Council Petr Fiala, and with them the many heads of state and government that in these hours have wished me good work. Obviously, my curiosity and interest in the posture that the government will hold towards the European institutions do not escape me. Or even better, I would like to say within the European institutions. Because that is the place where Italy will make her voice heard loudly, as befits a great founding nation. Not to slow down or sabotage European integration, as I have heard in recent weeks, but to help direct it towards greater effectiveness in responding to crises and external threats and towards an approach closer to citizens and businesses.
We do not conceive the European Union as an elite circle with A and B members, or worse as a joint stock company run by a board of directors with the sole task of keeping the accounts in order. For us, the European Union is the common home of the European peoples and as such it must be able to face the great challenges of our time, starting with those that the Member States can hardly face alone. I am thinking of trade agreements, of course, but also of the supply of raw materials and energy, of migration policies, of geopolitical choices, of the fight against terrorism. Great challenges, for which the European Union has not always been ready. Because how was it possible, for example, that an integration process born as a coal and steel community in 1950 finds itself more than 70 years later - and after having dramatically extended the subjects of its competence - not to have effective solutions precisely in terms of energy supply and raw materials? Whoever asks himself these questions is not an enemy or a heretic, but someone who wants to contribute to a European integration more effective in facing the great challenges that await him, in compliance with that founding motto that says "United in diversity". Because this is the great European peculiarity: Nations with millenary histories, capable of uniting, each bringing its own identity as an added value.
A common European home certainly means shared rules, even in the economic-financial sphere. This Government will respect the rules currently in force and at the same time offer its contribution to change those that have not worked, starting with the ongoing debate on the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact.
Due to its strength and its history, Italy has the duty, even before the right, to stand tall in these international fora. With a constructive spirit but without subordination or inferiority complexes, as has too often happened during leftist governments, combining the affirmation of our national interest with the awareness of a common European destiny. And western.
The Atlantic Alliance guarantees our democracies a framework of peace and security that we too often take for granted. It is Italy's duty to contribute fully to it, because, whether we like it or not, freedom has a cost and that cost for a state is the ability it has to defend itself and the reliability it demonstrates in the framework of the alliances to which it is a part. Over the years Italy has been able to demonstrate this, starting with the many international missions in which we have been protagonists. And for this I want to thank the women and men of our Armed Forces for having kept Italy's prestige high in the most difficult contexts, even at the cost of their own lives: the Fatherland will always be grateful to you. Italy will continue to be a reliable partner in the Atlantic Alliance, starting with support for the valiant Ukrainian people who oppose the invasion of the Russian Federation. Not only because we cannot accept the war of aggression and the violation of the territorial integrity of a sovereign nation but because it is the best way to defend our national interest as well. Only an Italy that respects its commitments can have the authority to ask at the European and Western levels, for example, that the burdens of the international crisis be shared in a more balanced way. This is what we intend to do, starting with the energy issue.
The war has aggravated the already very difficult situation caused by the increases in the cost of energy and fuels. Unsustainable costs for many companies, which could be forced to close and lay off their workers, and for millions of families who are no longer able to cope with the rising bills. But those who believe it is possible to trade Ukraine's freedom for our peace of mind are wrong. Giving in to Putin's blackmail on energy would not solve the problem, it would aggravate it by opening the way to further demands and blackmail, with future increases in energy even greater than those we have known in recent months. The signals received from the last European Council represent a step forward, achieved also thanks to the commitment of my predecessor and Minister Cingolani, but they are still insufficient. The absence, even today, of a common response leaves room for measures by individual national governments, which risk undermining the internal market and the competitiveness of our businesses. On the price front, if on the one hand it is true that the mere discussion of containment measures has temporarily slowed speculation, on the other we must be aware that if the announcements are not followed up quickly with timely and effective mechanisms, speculation will restart.
For this reason too, it will be necessary to maintain and strengthen national measures to support households and businesses, both on the bills and on the fuel side. An impressive financial commitment that will drain a large part of the available resources, and will force us to postpone other measures that we would have liked to have already started in the next budget law.
But today our priority must be to put a stop to expensive energy and in every way accelerate the diversification of supply sources and national production. Because I want to believe that, paradoxically, an opportunity for Italy can also emerge from the drama of the energy crisis. Our seas have gas fields that we have a duty to fully exploit. And our nation, in particular the South, is the paradise of renewables, with its sun, wind, the heat of the earth, the tides and the rivers. A heritage of green energy too often blocked by bureaucracy and incomprehensible vetoes. In short, I am convinced that Italy, with a little courage and a practical spirit, can emerge from this crisis stronger and more autonomous than before.
In addition to expensive energy, Italian households find themselves having to face a level of inflation that has reached 11,1% on an annual basis and is inexorably eroding their purchasing power, despite some of these increases being absorbed by It is essential to intervene with measures aimed at increasing the disposable income of families, starting from the reduction of taxes on productivity bonuses, from the further raising of the exemption threshold of the so-called fringe benefits and from the strengthening of corporate welfare. At the same time, we must be able to expand the range of primary goods which benefit from VAT reduced to 5%. Concrete measures, which we will detail in the next budget law, on which we are already working.
The context in which the government will find itself operating is very complicated, perhaps the most difficult since the Second World War to today. Geopolitical tensions and the energy crisis are holding back the hoped for post-pandemic economic recovery. The macroeconomic forecasts for 2023 indicate a marked slowdown in the Italian, European and world economy, in a climate of absolute uncertainty. The European Central Bank in September revised its 2023 growth forecasts for the euro area, with a cut of 1,2 percentage points compared to the June forecasts, forecasting growth of just 0,9%. Slowdown and downward revisions that also affect the trend of the Italian economy for the next year. In the last Update to the Def, the GDP growth forecast for 2023 stops at 0,6%, exactly a quarter of the 2,4% forecast in the April Economics and Finance Document. And the forecasts of the MEF are even optimistic compared to the most recent ones of the International Monetary Fund, according to which 2023 will be a year of recession for the Italian economy: minus 0,2%, the worst result among the main world economies, after that of Germany.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated situation. The data is clear: in the last twenty years Italy has grown overall by 4%, while France and Germany by more than 20%. In the last ten years, Italy has placed itself in the last places in Europe for economic and employment growth, with the sole exception of the rebound recorded after the collapse of GDP in 2020. It is no coincidence that ten years during which weak governments have followed one another, heterogeneous, without a clear popular mandate, unable to resolve the structural deficiencies suffered by Italy and its economy and to lay the foundations for sustained and lasting growth.
Low or zero growth, therefore, accompanied by the surge in inflation which exceeded 9% in the euro area and led the ECB, like other central banks, to raise interest rates for the first time in 11 years. interest. A decision considered by many to be risky and which risks having repercussions on bank lending to households and businesses, and which is added to that already taken by the Central Bank itself to put an end, starting from 1 July 2022, to the program for the purchase of fixed income on the open market, creating an additional difficulty for those Member States with high public debt.
We are, therefore, in the midst of a storm, with a boat that has suffered several damages, and the Italians have entrusted us with the task of leading the ship to port in this very difficult crossing. We were aware of what awaited us, as are all the other political forces, even those that governing in the last ten years have led to a worsening of all the main macroeconomic fundamentals, and today they will say that they have the solutions and are ready to impute to the new government, perhaps with the support of the media deployed, the difficulties that Italy faces.
We were aware of the boulder we were carrying on our shoulders, and we fought to take that responsibility anyway. Because? Firstly because we are not used to fleeing in the face of difficulties, and secondly because we know that our boat, Italy, with all its dents, remains "The most beautiful ship in the world", to take up the famous expression used from the American aircraft carrier Independence when it crossed the Italian training ship Amerigo Vespucci. A solid boat, to which no destination is precluded, if only it decides to resume the journey. So we are here to mend the torn sails, fix the hull boards and overcome the waves crashing on us. With the compass of our convictions to show us the route to the chosen destination, and with a crew capable of performing their duties in the best possible way.
We were asked how we intend to reassure investors in the face of a debt of 145% of GDP, second in Europe only to that of Greece. We could respond by citing some fundamentals of our economy, which remain solid despite everything: we are among the few European nations in constant primary surplus, or rather the state spends less than it collects, net of interest on debt. The private savings of Italian families have exceeded the threshold of 5 trillion euros and, in a climate of confidence, could support investments in the real economy. But the still unexpressed potential that Italy has are even more important than these already significant data.
I feel I can say that if this government manages to do what it has in mind, betting on Italy could be not only a safe investment, but perhaps even a bargain. Because the horizon we want to look at is not next year or the next electoral deadline, what interests us is what Italy will be like in ten years. The way to reduce the debt is not the blind austerity imposed in the past years and neither are the more or less creative financial adventurisms. The main road is economic, lasting and structural growth.
And to achieve it we are naturally open to favoring foreign investments: if on the one hand we will oppose predatory logics that jeopardize strategic national production, on the other we will be open to welcoming those foreign companies that choose to invest in Italy, bringing development, employment and know-how in a logic of mutual benefits.
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan fits into this context. Funds raised with the common European debt issue to face global crises. A proposal made at the time by the center-right government with the then economy minister Giulio Tremonti, for years opposed, sometimes derided, and finally adopted. The PNRR is an extraordinary opportunity to modernize Italy: we all have a duty to make the most of it. The challenge is complex due to the structural and bureaucratic limits that have always made it difficult for Italy to be able to fully use even the European funds of ordinary programming. Suffice it to say that the Update to the Def 2022 has reduced the public expenditure activated by the PNRR to 15 billion compared to the 29,4 billion envisaged in the Def of last April. Compliance with future deadlines will require even more attention given that so far most of the works already started in the past have been reported, something that cannot continue to be done in the coming years. We will best spend the 68,9 billion non-repayable and the 122,6 billion loaned to Italy by the Next Generation EU. Without delays and without waste, and by agreeing with the European Commission the necessary adjustments to optimize spending, especially in light of the rising prices of raw materials and the energy crisis. Because these subjects are faced with a pragmatic, not an ideological approach.
The PNRR must not be understood only as a large public spending plan, but as an opportunity to make a real cultural change. Finally, to file the logic of bonuses, for some, often useful above all for electoral campaigns, in favor of medium-term investments destined for the well-being of the entire national community. Remove all the obstacles that hinder economic growth and which for too long we have resigned ourselves to considering Italy's endemic evils.
One of these is certainly political instability. In the last twenty years, Italy has had on average one government every two years, often changing the reference majority as well. This is the reason why the measures that guaranteed safe and immediate consensus have always prevailed over strategic choices. It is the reason why bureaucracies have often become untouchable and impervious to merit. This is the reason why Italy's negotiating capacity in international fora has been weak. And it is the reason why foreign investments, which can hardly bear the changeability of governments, have been discouraged. And this is the reason why we firmly believe that Italy needs a constitutional reform in the presidential sense, which guarantees stability and restores centrality to popular sovereignty. A reform that allows Italy to pass from an "interloquent democracy" to a "deciding democracy".
We want to start from the hypothesis of semi-presidentialism on the French model, which in the past had also obtained a wide approval from the center-left, but we remain open to other solutions as well.
We want to discuss this with all the political forces present in Parliament, to arrive at the best and most shared reform possible. But it is clear that we will not give up reforming Italy in the face of prejudicial oppositions. In that case we will move according to the mandate that has been given to us on this issue by the Italians: to give Italy an institutional system in which whoever wins governs for five years and in the end is judged by the voters for what he has managed to do.
Parallel to the presidential reform, we intend to follow up the virtuous process of differentiated autonomy already started by various Italian regions according to the constitutional dictates and in implementation of the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, within a framework of national cohesion. For the province of Bolzano we will discuss the restoration of the standards of autonomy which in 92 led to the release of the UN release receipt. It is our intention to complete the process to give Roma Capitale the powers and resources that belong to a great European capital and to give new centrality to our Municipalities. Because every bell tower and every village is a piece of our identity to be defended. I am thinking in particular of those who are located in inland areas, in mountainous areas and in the high lands, who need an allied state to promote housing and combat depopulation.
I am convinced that this turning point we have in mind is also the best opportunity to return to putting the southern question at the center of the Italy agenda. The South is no longer seen as a problem but as an opportunity for development for the whole nation. We will work hard to bridge an unacceptable infrastructure gap, eliminate disparities, create jobs, ensure social security and improve the quality of life. We must be able to put an end to that joke that the South exports manpower, intelligence and capital that are fundamental in those regions from which they leave. It is not an easy goal, in the current situation, but our commitment will be total.
And if the infrastructures in the South can no longer be postponed, also in the rest of Italy it is necessary to build new ones, to enhance the connections of people and goods but also of data and communications. With the aim of mending not only the North to the South but also the Tyrrhenian coast to the Adriatic coast and the Islands with the rest of the Peninsula.
Structural investments are needed to address the climate emergency, environmental challenges, hydrogeological risk and coastal erosion, and to accelerate the reconstruction processes of the territories affected in recent years by earthquakes and natural disasters, such as the dramatic flood that occurred in the night between 15 and 16 September it shocked the Marche Region. Allow me, together with all of you, to renew here my condolences for the victims and closeness to the whole community: we are at your side and we will not abandon you. The care for our territory, from every point of view, will be a priority for this government.
We intend to protect national strategic infrastructures by ensuring public ownership of the networks, on which companies will be able to offer services under free competition, starting with that of communications. The digital transition, strongly supported by the PNRR, must be accompanied by technological sovereignty, the national cloud and cyber-security.
And we want to finally introduce a clause to safeguard the national interest, also from an economic point of view, for the concessions of public infrastructures, such as motorways and airports. Because the model of oligarchs sitting on oil wells accumulating billions without even ensuring investment is not a free market model worthy of a Western democracy.
Italy must return to having an industrial policy, focusing on those sectors in which it can count on a competitive advantage. I think of the brand, made up of fashion, luxury, design, up to high technology. Made of products of absolute excellence in the agri-food sector, which must be defended at European level and with greater integration of the supply chain at national level, also to aim for full food sovereignty that can no longer be postponed. Which does not mean putting pineapple out of the market, as some have said, but ensuring that we will not depend on nations distant from us to be able to feed our children. I am thinking of Italy's favorable position in the Mediterranean and the opportunities linked to the economy of the sea, which can and must become a strategic asset for the whole of Italy and in particular for the development of the south. And I think about beauty. Yes, because Italy is the nation that more than any other in the world embodies the idea of scenic, artistic, narrative and expressive beauty. The whole world knows it, loves us for this and wants to buy Italian, learn about our history and come on vacation to us. It is a pride for us, but above all an economic resource of inestimable value, which feeds our tourism and cultural industry. And I would add that returning to focus on the strategic value of Italianness also means promoting the Italian language abroad and enhancing the link with the Italian communities present in every part of the world, which are an integral part of our national community.
In order for all the growth objectives to be achieved, a cultural revolution is needed in the relationship between the state and the production system, which must be equal and one of mutual trust. Those who today have the strength and the will to do business in Italy must be supported and facilitated, not harassed and viewed with suspicion. Because wealth is created by companies with their workers, not the state by edict or decree. And then our motto will be "do not disturb those who want to do".
Above all, companies are asking for less bureaucracy, clear and certain rules, quick and transparent answers. We will tackle the problem starting from a structural simplification and deregulation of administrative procedures to stimulate the economy, growth and investments. Also because we all know how much the legislative, bureaucratic and regulatory excess exponentially increases the risk of irregularities, disputes and corruption, an evil that we have a duty to eradicate.
We need fewer rules, but clear for everyone. And of a new relationship between citizen and public administration, so that the citizen does not feel a weak part in the face of a tyrant state that does not listen to its needs and frustrates its expectations.
From this Copernican revolution a new fiscal pact will have to be born, which will rest on three pillars.The first: to reduce the tax burden on businesses and families through a reform in the name of equity: reform of the personal income tax with progressive introduction of the family quotient and extension of the flat tax for VAT numbers from the current 65 thousand euros to 100 thousand euros of turnover. And, alongside this, the introduction of the flat tax on the increase in income compared to the maximum reached in the previous three years: a virtuous measure, with limited impact for the state coffers and which can be a strong incentive for growth. The second: a fiscal truce to allow citizens and businesses (especially SMEs) in difficulty to regularize their position with the tax authorities. The third: a vigorous fight against tax evasion (starting from total tax evaders, large companies and large VAT fraud) accompanied by a modification of the criteria for evaluating the results of the Revenue Agency, which we want to anchor to the amounts actually collected and not to simple disputes, as incredibly happened so far.
Companies and workers have been asking for a long time, as a priority that cannot be postponed, to reduce the tax and contribution wedge. The excessive tax burden on labor is one of the main obstacles to the creation of new jobs and the competitiveness of our companies on international markets. The goal we set ourselves is to intervene gradually to achieve a cut of at least five points in the wedge in favor of companies and workers, to lighten the tax burden of the former and increase the payroll of the latter. And to incentivize companies to hire, we have a tax mechanism in mind that rewards labor-intensive businesses. “The more you hire, the less you pay”, we have summarized it, but obviously this must not detract from the necessary support for technological innovation.
Speaking of business and work, our thoughts turn to the dozens of crisis tables that are still open, to which we will devote our utmost commitment, and to those thousands of self-employed workers who never got up after the pandemic. To them, who have often been unjustly treated as children of a lesser God, we want to recognize adequate safeguards in line with those rightly guaranteed to employees. Because we have always been at the side of those almost 5 million self-employed workers, including artisans, traders, freelancers, who constitute a backbone of the Italian economy, and we will not stop now.
And adequate safeguards must also be recognized for those who retire after a life of work or would like to go there. We intend to facilitate the outgoing flexibility with mechanisms compatible with the stability of the social security system, starting, in the short time available for the next budget law, from the renewal of the measures expiring at the end of the year. The priority for the future will be a pension system that also guarantees the younger generations and those who receive the allowance only on the basis of the contribution regime.
A social bomb that we continue to ignore but that will invest millions of current workers in the future, who will find themselves with even much lower checks than the already inadequate ones currently perceived.
There is a theme of rampant poverty that we cannot ignore. Your Holiness Pope Francis, to whom I address an affectionate greeting, recently reiterated an important concept: "Poverty cannot be fought with welfare, the door to a man's dignity is work". It is a profound truth, which only those who have known poverty closely can fully appreciate. This is the path we intend to take: we want to maintain and, where possible, increase the necessary financial support for those who are actually fragile who are not in a position to work: I am thinking of retirees in difficulty, the disabled whose degree of protection must be increased in every way. , and also to those without income who have minor children to take care of. They will not be denied the necessary aid of the state. But for others, for those who are able to work, the solution cannot be citizenship income, but work, training and accompaniment to work, also making full use of the resources and possibilities made available by the Social Fund. European. Because the way it was designed and built, the rdc represented a defeat for those who were able to play the part of him for Italy, as well as for himself and his family.
And if there are different positions on citizenship income in this House, I am sure that we all agree on the importance of putting an end to the tragedy of accidents, including fatalities, at work. The issue here is not to introduce new rules, but to ensure the full implementation of those that exist. Because as the union also recalled - most recently with the demonstration last Saturday -, we cannot accept that an eighteen-year-old like Giuliano De Seta - and I quote him to remember all the victims -, leaves home to go to work and never comes back. more.
We need to bridge the large gap between training and skills required by the labor market, with specific training courses, of course, but even earlier thanks to school and university training that is more attentive to the dynamics of the labor market.
Education is the most formidable tool for increasing the wealth of a nation, from all points of view. Material capital is nothing without human capital. For this reason, schools and universities will once again be central to government action, because they represent a fundamental strategic resource for Italy, for its future and its young people.
He argued about our choice to revive the correlation between education and merit. I am genuinely impressed. Several studies show how, today, those who live in a well-to-do family have a better chance to recover the gaps in a school system that has been flattened to the downside, while students with fewer resources are harmed by teaching that does not reward merit, because those gaps are not filled by anyone.
Italy is not a country for young people. Over time, our society has become increasingly disinterested in their future, even in the widespread phenomenon of those young people who exclude themselves from the training and work circuit, as well as in the growing emergency of deviations, made up of drugs, alcoholism, crime. And the pandemic has definitely worsened this condition, but the political response has been to promise everyone free cannabis. Because it was the easiest answer. But we are not here to make it easy. We intend to work on the growth of young people. Promote artistic and cultural activities, and alongside these sports, an extraordinary tool for socializing, human formation and well-being. Working on education, mostly entrusted to the self-denial and talent of our teachers, often left alone to swim in a sea of structural, technological, motivational deficiencies. Guarantee decent wages and protections, scholarships for the deserving, foster business culture and the loan of honor.
We owe it to these guys, from whom we took everything away, to leave them only debts to repay. And we owe it to Italy, which on 17 March 161 years ago was unified by the young heroes of the Risorgimento and today, as then, it is from the enthusiasm and courage of its young people that it can be relieved.
We know that the protection of the natural environment is particularly important to young people. We will take care of it. Because, as Roger Scruton, one of the great masters of European conservative thought, wrote, "ecology is the most vivid example of the alliance between who is there, who has been there, and who will come after us" .
Protecting our natural heritage commits us just like protecting the heritage of culture, traditions and spirituality, which we inherited from our fathers so that we could pass it on to our children. There is no more convinced ecologist than a conservative, but what distinguishes us from a certain ideological environmentalism is that we want to defend nature with man inside. Combining environmental, economic and social sustainability. Accompanying businesses and citizens towards the green transition without surrendering ourselves to new strategic dependencies and respecting the principle of technological neutrality. This will be our approach.
I think I know the universe of youth commitment more than others. A wonderful gym of life for boys and girls, regardless of the political ideas they choose to defend and promote. I confess that it will be difficult for me not to feel sympathy even for those who take to the streets against the policies of our government. The thousand events in which I participated with so much passion will inevitably come back to my memory. Without ever taking orders from anyone. To the famous "Be crazy, be hungry", by Steve Jobs, I would like to add "be free". Because the greatness of the human being is in free will.
Then there is another important educational institution, next to school and university. Perhaps the most important. And it's the family. Primary nucleus of our societies, the cradle of affections and the place where the identity of each of us is formed. We intend to support and protect it; and with this support the birth rate, which in 2021 recorded the lowest birth rate since the unification of Italy to date. To get out of the demographic glaciation and return to producing those years of the future, that demographic GDP we need, we need an imposing economic but also cultural plan, to rediscover the beauty of parenthood and put the family back at the center of society. It is therefore our commitment, also taken in the electoral campaign, to increase the amounts of the single and universal allowance and to help young couples obtain a mortgage for their first home, gradually working towards the introduction of the family quotient. And since family projects go hand in hand with work, we want to encourage female employment in every way, rewarding those companies that adopt policies that offer effective solutions to reconcile home-work times and supporting municipalities to guarantee free nurseries. and open until the closing time of shops and offices.
Italy needs a new intergenerational alliance, which has its pillar in the family and strengthens the bond that unites children with grandparents and young people with the elderly, who must be protected, valued and supported because they represent our roots and ours. history.
Montesquieu used to say that “Freedom is that good that makes you enjoy every other good”.
Freedom is the foundation of a true society of opportunities; it is freedom that must guide our actions; freedom to be, to do, to produce. A center-right government will never limit the existing freedoms of citizens and businesses. We will see to the test of the facts, also on civil rights and abortion, who lied and who told the truth in the electoral campaign about what our real intentions were.
Freedom, we said. Freedom and democracy are the distinctive elements of contemporary European civilization in which I have always recognized myself. And therefore, in spite of what has been argued instrumentally, I have never felt sympathy or closeness towards anti-democratic regimes. For no regime, including fascism. Just as I have always considered the racial laws of 1938 the lowest point in Italian history, a shame that will mark our people forever. The totalitarianisms of the twentieth century tore apart the whole of Europe, not just Italy, for more than half a century, in a succession of horrors that swept over most of the European states. And the horror and the crimes, whoever they are committed by, do not deserve any justification, and are not compensated for by other horrors and other crimes. In the abyss, the scores are never evened out, he just rushes. I met the scent of freedom at a very young age, the anxiety for historical truth and the rejection of any form of abuse or discrimination by militating in the Italian democratic right. A community of men and women who have always acted in the open and fully in our republican institutions, even in the darkest years of criminalization and political violence, when in the name of militant anti-fascism innocent boys were killed with wrenches . That long season of mourning has perpetuated the hatred of the civil war and removed a national pacification that the Italian democratic right, more than any other, has always hoped for.
Since then, the political community from which I come has always made progress towards a full and conscious historicization of the twentieth century, has taken on important government responsibilities by swearing on the Republican Constitution, as we had the honor to do just a few hours ago, he said. and embodied without any ambiguity the values of liberal democracy, which are the basis of the common identity of the Italian center-right. And from which we will not deflect by a single centimeter: we will fight any form of racism, anti-Semitism, political violence, discrimination.
And there has been much discussion of freedom in the era of a pandemic. Covid entered our lives almost three years ago, and has led to the deaths of over 177.000 people in Italy. If we have come out of the emergency at the moment, it is above all thanks to the health personnel, the professionalism and self-denial with which it has saved thousands of human lives. Our gratitude goes to them once again. And with them my thanks go to the workers of essential public services, who have never stopped, and to the extraordinary reality of our Third Sector, the virtuous representative of those intermediate bodies that we consider vital for our society. Unfortunately, we cannot rule out a new wave of covids or the emergence of a new pandemic in the future. But we can learn from the past to be ready. Italy has adopted the most restrictive measures in the entire West, severely limiting the fundamental freedoms of people and economic activities, but despite this it is among the states that have recorded the worst data in terms of mortality and infections. Something definitely did not work and so I want to say right now that we will not replicate that model under any circumstances. Correct information, prevention and accountability are more effective than coercion, in all areas. And listening to doctors in the field is more valuable than guidelines written by some bureaucrat when dealing with real patients. And if citizens are asked for responsibility, the first to demonstrate it must be those who ask for it. It will be necessary to clarify what happened during the management of the pandemic crisis. It is due to those who lost their lives and those who did not spare themselves in the wards of hospitals, while others were doing millionaire deals with the purchase and sale of masks and respirators.
Legality will be the guiding star of government action. I started in politics at the age of 15, the day after the Via D'Amelio massacre, in which the mafia killed judge Paolo Borsellino, driven by the idea that one could not stand by and watch, that anger and indignation would go translated into civic engagement. The path that led me to be Prime Minister today stems from the example of that hero. Italians, refusing to look away or run away, even when they knew that persistence would probably lead them to death. Magistrates, politicians, escort agents, soldiers, ordinary citizens, priests. Giants like Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, Rosario Livatino, Rocco Chinnici, Pio La Torre, Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, Piersanti Mattarella, Emanuela Loi, Libero Grassi, Don Pino Puglisi, and with them a very long list of men and women that we will not forget. The fight against the mafia will find us at the forefront. From this government, criminals and mobsters will have nothing but contempt and inflexibility.
Legality also means a justice that works, with effective parity between accusation and defense and a reasonable length of trials, which is not only a question of legal civilization and respect for the fundamental rights of citizens, but also of economic growth: slowness justice costs us at least one point of GDP per year according to Bank of Italy estimates. We will work to give citizens back the guarantee of living in a safe nation, putting the fundamental principle of the certainty of punishment back at the center, thanks also to a new prison plan. Since the beginning of this year, 71 suicides have been in prison. It is unworthy of a civilized nation, just as the working conditions of prison police officers are often unworthy. With the same determination we will also review the reform of the judiciary, to put an end to the current logic that undermines the credibility of the Italian judiciary. And allow me a final note We have undertaken the commitment to limit the excess of discretion in juvenile justice, with guaranteed and objective custody and adoption procedures, so that there are never more Bibbiano cases, and we intend to bring it to an end.
Italians feel the unbearable weight of insecure cities, in which there is no immediate protection, in which the absence of the state is perceived. We want to make a commitment to bring institutions closer to citizens, but also to bring the physical presence of the state back to every city. We want to make security a distinctive feature of this executive, alongside our law enforcement agencies, which I want to thank here today for the self-denial with which they carry out their work in conditions that are often impossible, and with a state that has at times given the impression of being more sympathetic to those who undermined our security than it was to those who, on the other hand, risked their lives to guarantee it.
Of course, security and legality also concern the correct management of migratory flows. According to a simple principle: in Italy, as in any other serious state, one does not enter illegally, one enters only through the flow decrees.
In these years of terrible inability to find the right solutions to the various migratory crises, too many men and women, and children, have died at sea in an attempt to get to Italy. Too many times we have said "never again", only to have to repeat it over and over again. This government therefore wants to pursue a path, little traveled to date: to stop illegal departures, finally breaking the trafficking of human beings in the Mediterranean. Our intention is always the same. But if you do not want us to talk about naval blockade, I will say it this way: it is our intention to recover the original proposal of the Sophia naval mission of the European Union which in the third phase envisaged, even if never implemented, provided for the blocking of the departures of boats from the north. Africa. We intend to propose it at European level and implement it in agreement with the authorities of North Africa, accompanied by the creation on African territories of hotspots, managed by international organizations, where it is possible to examine asylum requests and distinguish who has the right to be accepted in Europe from whom that right does not have it.
Because we do not intend in any way to question the right of asylum for those fleeing wars and persecutions. Our goal is to prevent Italy from continuing to be screened by smugglers on immigration.
And then there will be one last thing to do, perhaps the most important: remove the causes that lead migrants, especially the youngest, to abandon their land, their cultural roots, their family to seek a better life in Europe. Next 27 October will be the sixtieth anniversary of the death of Enrico Mattei, a great Italian who was one of the architects of post-war reconstruction, capable of entering into agreements of mutual convenience with nations all over the world. Here, I believe that Italy must promote a "Mattei plan" for Africa, a virtuous model of collaboration and growth between the European Union and African nations, also to counter the worrying spread of Islamist radicalism, especially in the area sub-Saharan. We would like to recover our strategic role in the Mediterranean after years of retreating.
I start to conclude, thanking you for your patience. It will not be a simple navigation, that of the government that is preparing to ask for the trust of Parliament. For the seriousness of the challenges that we will be called to face, but also for the political prejudice that I often see among the analyzes that concern us. I think it's even justified in part. Certainly for the part that concerns me. I am the first woman appointed as President of the Council of Ministers in the history of Italy, I come from a cultural area that has often been confined to the margins of the Republic, and I certainly have not arrived here in the arms of a family and friendships. influential. I represent what the British would call the underdog. The underdog, to simplify, who must overturn all predictions to establish himself. I intend to do it again, overturn the forecasts, with the help of a valid team of ministers and undersecretaries, with the trust and work of the parliamentarians who will vote in favor, and with the insights that will come from the criticisms of those who will vote against.
With one goal: to know that we have done everything we could to give Italians a better nation. Sometimes we will succeed, sometimes we will fail, but rest assured that we will not give up, we will not back down, and we will not betray the hopes that have been placed in us.
On the day our Government swore an oath in the hands of the Head of State, the liturgical memorial of John Paul II took place. A Pontiff, a statesman, a saint, whom I had the privilege of knowing personally. He taught me a fundamental thing, which I have always treasured. "Freedom" he said "does not consist in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we must". I have always been a free person, so I intend to do what I have to.