“The last few years have been difficult for our country, and I am referring to the pandemic and the economic crisis. But our country has shown that it knows how to react with unity, courage and unity, returning at the same time to the center of international politics ». Thus Mario Draghi, prime minister, speaking at the Conference of Italian Ambassadors.
“Italy has recovered thanks to workers and businesses”, continued the prime minister, “with a spirit of collaboration that we will have to maintain also in 2022: the first challenge is the PNRR, which is not a plan to relaunch the government but of the whole country. Over the next five years, we have to invest € 191.5 billion, plus other funds for a total of € 235 billion. We are committed – he added – to reducing territorial, generational and gender gaps. To accelerate the digital and ecological transition. To improve the school and strengthen health. And to deeply reform the economy, to relaunch productivity, simplify bureaucracy, foster innovation ».
Draghi to the Italian ambassadors: “Winter and Omicron diffusion require maximum caution”
«The other priority is the management of the new phase of the health crisis», Added the premier, who in two days will chair the control room to study the new measures against the spread of infections. «The vaccination campaign has allowed us to save lives and to reopen the economy, schools, places of our sociality. The arrival of the winter season and the spread of the Omicron variant, however, oblige us to be extremely cautious in managing the coming months ». The commitment, the premier wished, is to be able to vaccinate 70% of the world population by 2022.
«Another challenge we face is the environmental one», Then declared the prime minister,« and on this front we must involve young people, the real protagonists of this change. The fight against climate change requires considerable efforts both internally and internationally, ”he continued. «The commitments we have made as the European Union oblige us to act on several fronts. We must ensure that the ecological transition is an opportunity, that our companies are able to manage these profound transformations, that workers are adequately trained for the jobs to come and that citizens, especially the weakest, are supported in the meet the costs of the transition “
Chapter foreign policy: “Italy has played a central role on the international scene,” said Draghi. «The government activity from the point of view of foreign policy has been very intense, and for this I want to thank Minister Di Maio and all of you diplomats. Under the Italian presidency, the G20 has made very significant progress on the front of global taxation, the distribution of vaccines, the fight against climate change. We have organized an extraordinary summit on Afghanistan to coordinate a joint response on the issues of humanitarian aid, the fight against terrorism and mobility. Ours has been an effective multilateralism, which starts from the awareness that global phenomena require collective responses. On a bilateral level, I want to recall the Quirinal Treaty that we signed on November 26 and which marks a historic moment in relations between Italy and France. And the work on the “action plan” that we have started with Germany and which will lead to greater political coordination between the two countries. Thanks to foreign policy, Italy is stronger, more influential, more credible ».