" We must not be afraid of the new. Reversing the image, we do not need old wine, neither in wineskins nor in new times. This is true for climate change. We need recipes, updated solutions, with the same foresight that allowed us to face, with the means of the time, the rebirth of the country".

The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, said this at the 80th anniversary of Coldiretti, celebrated in Rome at the Eliseo Theater: "If the Fathers of the Republic, the Fathers of Coldiretti, had looked back, where would they have taken us? Where would we be today? We are indebted to them and encouraged by their experience to have the same foresight ," added Mattarella in the speech given to the farmers of Coldiretti.

"The Republic knows that it identifies itself largely with agriculture," he stressed. "It was worth it during the pandemic and the farmers deserve the thanks of the Republic, farmers ensured nourishment in those difficult times." As well as for the floods that hit Italy "and that see proof of authentic responsibility and great solidarity from the agricultural world ."

Agriculture and food, the Head of State explained, "characterize a civilization, the Italian one": "The valorization of Italian productions sees us today in first place in the European Union for products that are recognized with the protected designation of origin, the protected geographical indication, of guaranteed traditional specialties". The objective "is to be successful on international markets thanks to the high quality of our products. On this level - the Head of State continued - we have nothing to fear. On the contrary, we are at the top". And he added: " We would be damaged by competition between the various countries, through rules of closing markets, a temptation that occasionally surfaces in Europe here and there, almost with an autarchic flavor : spaces would be closed to the prevalence of good quality. The one that we, in every field, ensure ".

"Looking back at these eighty years that separate us from 1944," Mattarella said, "means reading the history of a country that has been able to modernize, grow, consolidate the freedom of its citizens, live in peace, and achieve important goals that the Constitution of the Republic has entrusted to us ." Coldiretti, he concluded, "decided to participate in national political life within the experience of the Christian-inspired movement led by Alcide De Gasperi." The founder, Paolo Bonomi ("I had the opportunity to meet him when I was young") was first a member of the National Consultation, then of the Constituent Assembly, and finally of the Chamber of Deputies, until 1983. And, Mattarella recalled, Bonomi was awarded the Bronze Medal for Military Valor in 1946 for his work in favor of the Liberation of Italy from Nazi-Fascism.

(Online Union)

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