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“Dear fellow citizens, as this traditional end of the year appointment approaches, I have felt the difficulty of finding the right words to express a wish to each one of you. These are days when anguish and hope coexist ». With these words the president of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, went to the Italians to the traditional end of the year speech, in what marks his last year as President of the Republic. “A year that coincides – he stressed – also with the first year that is dedicated to the recovery of the economic and social life of our country.” The Head of State recalled how the pandemic has put “our lives at risk” and “injured our way of life”, making born in all the desire to return to a peaceful existence, putting in parentheses what Mattarella called a “nightmare”: we want to return – he clarified – “to have hospitals not affected by the emergency. Open schools and universities, for our children and our youth. Older people are no longer isolated out of necessity and precaution. Factories, theaters, restaurants, shops in full operation. Regular transportation. Normal contacts with countries close to us and with those further afield, with which we have built relationships in all these years. Therefore, it is important to “maintain the recommended precautions until the vaccination campaign has definitively defeated the pandemic.”
“Getting vaccinated is a choice of responsibility”
Italy – he added – “has paid a very high price”
. A price to remember. “The pandemic has created deep ruts in our lives, in our society. It has sharpened the fragility of the past. It has aggravated old inequalities and created new ones. All of this has had serious social and economic consequences. We have lost jobs. Women and young people were particularly penalized. People with disabilities are. Many companies fear for their future. Of course, the Head of State recalled, in the face of widespread confusion, we cannot hide some important signs that have emerged, “which encourage concrete hope. So that fear does not prevail and so that worries are transformed into the energy necessary to rebuild, to start over ”. In fact, in the foreground is the vaccination plan that has started in recent days. “A vaccine has never been done in such a short time. The European Union has never taken on such an important task for its citizens. For the vaccine, also with the contribution of Italian researchers, a global science and research alliance has been formed, supported by massive political and economic support that has multiplied the speed of identification ”, he stressed. Now “everyone and everywhere, without distinction, should be able to get vaccinated for free: because it is correct and because it is necessary for common security”.. Getting vaccinated is a choice of responsibility, a duty. Even more so for those who work in contact with the sick and the most fragile ”. Then, Mattarella stressed that first, as soon as possible, “after the categories that, being of greater risk, should prevail”, they will be vaccinated.
The Europe of common values prevails over interests
Therefore, attention has been paid to the role of the European Union, capable of making common values and those of citizens prevail over personal interests. Italy “has been the protagonist of this change,” he stressed, underlining that “seriousness, collaboration and even a sense of duty” are necessary to protect ourselves and restart. Each one doing their part. «The pandemic – in fact – has made us rediscover and understand how much we are linked to others; how much each one depends on the others ». The health emergency has brought out the value of solidarity as a necessary basis for coexistence and society. International solidarity. Solidarity in Europe. Solidarity within our communities. “2021 must be – in short, the Head of State clarified – the year of the defeat of the virus and the first of the recovery. A year in which each of us is also called upon to make a commitment to repay what we have received with free gestures, often from strangers, ”as happened with the many doctors and health workers who have been on the front line, from the beginning of the pandemic. “Limits and delays” were not lacking, of course, and “certainly there were also errors when facing a sudden and unknown reality”, but neither should “the positive things that have been achieved and that have allowed the country to remain the commitment displayed by many parties, ”he added, referring to the Armed Forces and Police Forces.
History and memory: the events of 2021
Finally, the challenge that Mattarella launches worries the next few months, which “represent a decisive step to get out of the emergency and lay the foundations for a new season. Distractions are not allowed. We must not waste time ”, referring to those who exercise managerial functions in various fields and recalling“ the moral and civil unity of Italians ”. It will be important, in the next year, the G20, which Italy chairs for the first time: “A precious opportunity to face the great global challenges and an opportunity to strengthen the prestige of our country.” But there are several anniversaries to be celebrated in 2021 that the president referred to as stages in the history and memory of the country: from the seventh centenary of Dante’s death to the 160th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, from the centenary of the placement of the Unknown Soldier. in the Altare della Patria at the age of 75 of the Republic. In conclusion, Mattarella wanted to thank Pope Francis “for his teaching and for the affection he transmits to the Italian people, becoming a witness of hope and justice”, congratulating the people of Gorizia for the designation of Gorizia and Nova Gorica as European capital of culture for 2025. “A sign – he concluded – that honors Italy and Slovenia for having developed relationships that go beyond coexistence and mutual respect and express collaboration and the prospects for a common future.”
December 31, 2020 (change December 31, 2020 | 20:52)
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