What is about to end was “a year of intense work with clear priorities, the fight against the pandemic and the recovery of the country's economic and social life”. And the balance that we can draw from it is "overall positive, for having increased the protection of citizens in the face of the threat of the virus and for having restarted society".

Sergio Mattarella said this at the exchange of greetings with the representatives of the institutions.

"The pandemic has caused pain, suffering, new forms of poverty. It still marks our time, but we have seen solidarity responses, unexpressed talents and qualities have emerged and innovative processes have accelerated", said the Head of State, adding that today " we are still called to prudence and responsibility ", but at the same time" we have equipped ourselves with adequate tools to fight the virus and we no longer feel at the mercy of events ".

Mattarella applauds the unity shown by the parties in the fight against Covid, with the birth of the Draghi government, and hopes that this collaboration will go further: "Having been able to overshadow legitimate divisions and distinctions, programmatic diversity and political sensitivity to favor common work in the national interest was very important. This constructive attitude has united the majority and the opposition. The relationship between the State and the Regions has worked, which have actively and positively collaborated with successive governments. The initial understandable frictions and overlaps have been progressively overcome ”.

Again: "One of the characteristics of our people manifests itself when conditions are difficult, it is the moment in which we are able to express the best of ourselves. To regain lost trust. We do not give up on differences and diversities. But we know how to be united on the great. choices, when the circumstances of life require it. The wish I extend to you and to our beloved country - for the future - is that the constructive and collaborative spirit, mutually respectful, can become a stable feature of institutional relations ".

Italy must be "proud" of its response to the pandemic, even if unfortunately "the crisis is long and intermittent". The objective now is "to overcome the emergency and stabilize economic growth", and "both priorities are answered in the vaccination campaign".

And here was the thrust of the media, which in his opinion gave too much prominence to the no vax. “The first defense against the virus - he said - was the confidence of the vast majority of Italians in science and medicine. This was accompanied by that in the institutions, with a substantial and orderly adherence to what is indicated in the various phases of the emergency. The few exceptions, to which perhaps disproportionate media coverage has been given, do not in any way affect the exemplary conduct of almost all Italians ”.

(Unioneonline / L)

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