The one who today from Reggio Calabria, on the sidelines of a conference on the reception of unaccompanied minors organized on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the opening of the ‘Casa dell’Annunziata’ structure, he covered various topics of internal and foreign policy.
First of all, «I am very grateful to the Pope John XXIII Community for the work it is doing, also in memory of the great works of Don Benzi which we will celebrate with an initiative also at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in view of the anniversary of his birth which will fall next year. year”, he said, adding that “The reception of unaccompanied children is also a precious work that allows young people who come from distant countries to grow within our country; children who perhaps lost their parents in a difficult phase of emigration. We know that the Mediterranean has been transformed, unfortunately, into a cemetery of women and men trying to leave poverty. We must work to combat human traffickers, therefore irregular immigration, but we must welcome regular migrants, especially children”, he added. «This is why I have always said – the minister continued – that they must be integrated. The idea of creating an Ius Italiaethat is, allowing those who have been in Italy for ten years to apply for Italian citizenship is the continuation of what is done by welcoming minors. I will try to convince the rest of Parliament of the validity of this idea, of a citizenship reform that aims to be even more serious than the granting of citizenship that exists today.”
Before the conference, Minister Tajani met the small migrants who arrived alone on the Italian coast and were welcomed in the Casa dell’Annunziata in Reggio Calabria. Little Fatima, 10 years old, a victim of war, who arrived alone from Syria, gave the minister the book “Children who came from the sea”, signed by all the children and young people welcomed into the house, in which their stories of pain are told and of hope.
«For the illegal immigrants who come to Italy we make agreements with the countries of origin ensuring that fewer immigrants leave. We need, I believe, a strategy for the African continent and this is the Mattei plan», he continued Tajani, speaking to journalists. «The tragedy of deaths at sea – added Tajani – can be addressed, instead, by destroying the organizations of human traffickers, who are the same ones who traffic in weapons and drugs. We know what the route is: it passes through Niger, through the Agadez region and goes north. Then we arrive towards Libya, towards Tunisia. There are countries in North Africa that also have the problem of immigration.”
«There is zero controversy and propaganda regarding the agreement with Albania. We are absolutely convinced and will move forward. We are absolutely convinced, also, regarding safe countries. It is not the magistrate who decides whether a country is safe or not, but the Government who has tools of knowledge that the magistrate does not have.” This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, who arrived in Calabria for institutional and political initiatives.
The deputy prime minister and foreign minister also responded to journalists’ questions on Matteo Salvini’s proposal to amend the strike regulation law.
«Unfortunately at this stage there are some trade union organizations that are using the strike, which is legitimate, for political purposes and not for the protection of workers. So much so that strikes are always strikes organized by one or two unions and do not find the consensus of large unions. I am thinking of the CISL, I am thinking of Confsal and I am also thinking of the UGL, which did not join the general strike called for by CGIL and UIL”.
«Even the language used by certain trade unionists – Tajani continued – is a language that has nothing to do with the protection of workers’ rights, because, I believe, the government is protecting workers’ rights in the best way given that hours worked have increased; they went from less than eleven million to eleven and a half million, between 2023 and 2024. The number of people employed has also grown. Employment has decreased, permanent workers have increased, and therefore, the economic situation, despite the crisis, generates growth. It’s going well. The spread has decreased. The stock market is doing well. These are incontrovertible economic data.”
«We said that the economic situation is not rosy – underlined Tajani – but it is going better than in France and Germany. There is political stability. All data is what it is. This means that there is trust in our system. There is confidence in the economy in our country. We must continue to provide aid and support to businesses, because they are the ones that create jobs. We’ll see about the GDP. It is clear that there is a European crisis that mainly involves Germany and France.” «No one can think of being satisfied – underlined the deputy prime minister – but the results are still there in a complicated situation with wars upon us, with the increase in the cost of energy and we must think about getting to nuclear power if we want to be competitive ».
Then the question relating to the possibility of achieving peace in Ukraine. For the leader of Forza Italia the hope is «That Europe and the United States can be protagonists together with Ukraine of a new season that leads to the end of the war».
«Peace in Ukraine must be a just peace, that is, it must not represent a defeat for Ukraine, because that is a victim country that was attacked by the Russian Federation in violation of international law».
«Ceasefire in Lebanon is good, but we must also work on a ceasefire in Gaza to achieve the release of the hostages. We are working hard on that at an international level. The time to make peace – added Tajani – has been a long time coming. But now we need to reach the goal.”