Mattarella speech December 31, 2022, what he said

The young people, the Constitution, the call for the unity of the country in the name of the Republic, the homeland that is made up of all of us, modernity to be welcomed as a challenge to improve life and not as a threat that makes us want to return to past. Sergio Mattarella, in his first year-end speech of his second term at the Quirinale, touched on the issues that interest Italians, but he also wanted to convey trust and hope in an improvement in living conditions, after difficult years due to the pandemic and the economic crisis that followed.

The lesson of Covid and the “mad war”

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“From Covid, unfortunately not yet definitively defeated – the President recalled – we have learned lessons not to be forgotten”, such as for example the value of “that irreplaceable garrison of unity of the country represented by the National Health Service”. And then the “crazy war unleashed by the Russian Federation” which characterized this 2022. “We must concentrate our efforts so that 2023 is the year when hostilities end”, he added. The president of the Republic spoke standing up in the Music Hall for just over 16 minutes, not the shortest ever, but in any case directed at Italians more than at politics, referred to only at the beginning to underline the “significant novelty ” by the first female prime minister in the history of the Republic, Giorgia Meloni, and for a reminder of responsibility and respect for the rules and roles which, as we have seen in recent years, change rapidly.

The duty to pay taxes

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“Ours is a mature democracy”, underlined the Head of State, “almost all the political forces present in Parliament have taken turns in the government”, this has placed them “faced with the need to deal with the difficulties of governing” and “the concreteness of reality has thus summoned everyone to responsibility”, always “with respect for the dialectic between the majority and the opposition”. This leads “to a common vision of our democratic system, to respect for rules that cannot be disregarded, for everyone’s role in the political life of the Republic”. This is written in the Constitution, articulated Mattarella, recalling that this is “our compass” and which tells us to “remove the economic and social obstacles that harm people’s rights, their full realization. Without distinction”, but “The Republic is all of us. Together”. The State, the institutions but also the individuals who commit themselves every day, in those who “pay taxes because this serves to make Italy work and therefore for the common good”, in the men and women in uniform, in the initiative of those it does business, like those looking for work and for this very reason “removing obstacles – said the head of state – is a shared commitment”.

Reasons to hope

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In short, “we need cohesion and unity of purpose” to overcome the difficulties that the country is going through. Mattarella acknowledges that these have been difficult years for his fellow citizens: inflation, energy costs, difficulties for families and businesses, increased poverty especially among minors, lack of work, precariousness, differences between North and South, which “injure the right to equality”. But there are good reasons for hope. Meanwhile, the economic data of the positive growth of the country, the reaction capacity of businesses, the recovery of tourism, the increase in exports. To continue to hope, according to the Head of State, one must know how to take up the challenge of modernity: it is an illusion as well as a mistake to think of rejecting change and giving up on modernity, but courage is needed on the most important challenges we face.

Energy and digital transition

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That is, energy transition, digital transformation and training of young people. For Mattarella, young people are the key through which to read the choices to be made, starting with the implementation of the Pnrr and the investment in training. “Let’s look to tomorrow with the eyes of young people. Let’s look at their faces, let’s collect their hope. Let’s make them our own – is the invitation addressed by the president – let’s ensure that the future of the young generations is not only what remains of the present but is the fruit of an exercise of conscience on our part, escaping the pretension of choosing for them, of influencing their path”. Young people who are more sensitive to the issue of climate change and energy transition, but also to freedom and rights, as demonstrated by the courageous protests in Iran, Afghanistan and Russia.

“Careful When You Drive”

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And again to young Mattarella he addressed a heartfelt appeal not to cancel their future when they find themselves driving a car: “Too many kids lose their lives at night from car accidents, due to speed, lightness, consumption of alcohol or drugs – recalled the Head of State -. When you drive you have your life and that of others in your hands. Do not destroy it for a moment of imprudence”.