The Soft Power Club, the international association founded by Francesco Rutelli, returns to Venice today and tomorrow. The proceedings of the Second Soft Power Conference will be opened by a message from the Prime Minister Mario Draghi. The debates will take place in the presence with the necessary precautions and with interventions in connection.
«In Venice the Soft Power Club meets to address, with its authoritative institutional and international guests, issues of primary importance: how effective multilateralism can respond to the Afghan drama; how to manage, in the coming weeks, vaccinations for all and Covid prevention (thanks to the winner of our Award – in collaboration with Generali); in the IED event, how to manage, in Italy and in Europe, the crucial Green Transition with positive results and without dramatic repercussions; how to make culture and creative industries a tool for growth and cohesion in the post-Covid period. From the message of President Draghi, to the contributions of extraordinary global leaders, Venice will host a precious appointment for the affirmation of a new Soft Power ». From this perspective, «Generali – says Group CEO Philippe Donnet – is proud to sponsor the first edition of the Soft Power Prize, which aims to promote science as a universal value and to celebrate its fundamental role in our society. I am pleased to present this award in Venice in the year in which both the 1600th anniversary of its foundation and the 190th anniversary of Generali are celebrated. We are proud that the city is both part of the heritage and of the future of the Group: at the end of this year we will reopen the historic Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco, which will become the headquarters of The Human Safety Net initiative, while we continue to support Venice and its people in our common ambition to transform it into the world capital of sustainability ».
“Venice wants to be the world capital of sustainability, a decisive goal, because it is the city most threatened by climate change which, if they brought the feared consequences, with the rising of the seas, would lead to the end of Venice and an environmental disaster from the point of view of unprecedented cultural and historical heritage “. These are the words with which Francesco Rutelli commented on the opening of the second edition of the Soft Power Conference, at the Cini Foundation on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Rutelli then went into the details of the event: «Today’s meeting, promoted by the European Democratic Institute in Brussels, which opens this two days of the” soft power club “- he said – is linked to the concreteness to which we are called. “Fit for 55″, a target set by the European Commission, means being ready to reduce emissions by 55% in just nine years. Is it an achievable goal or is it likely to be a goal whose impact will be experienced as punitive by many people? ” For this reason, the politician recalled what happened in the past in France: “We remember that in France the yellow vests started just as a response to opposition to a small fuel tax linked to climate measures, we must not repeat this error, we must envisage the positive responses in terms of creating new production chains, new jobs and not just giving a message that otherwise the majority of the population would live as punitive and to which they could react as happened in many countries of the world, when the restrictive measures arrive, the increase in taxes, the increase in tariffs, the cost of fuel and so on “