Good morning everyone.
I wish to greet and thank Minister Roccella for organising this initiative and, of course, all the business and labour representatives who have accepted the Government’s invitation to be there today at the Temple of Hadrian to sign a document that I consider to be of great importance, a real alliance between institutions and companies to make businesses mother and child-friendly. 

This pact’s key words are ‘future’ and ‘investment’. No one knows better than our companies how important it is to make productive investments and how important it is to bet on tomorrow. No one more than this Government believes that investing to boost the birth rate and reverse the demographic trend means betting on ourselves, because, without children, Italy will be poorer and the sustainability of our welfare system will be at risk; the generational passing of the torch, on which our ability to carry our identity as a people into the future is based, will be no more.

An important challenge lies ahead, as, of course, we are well aware. Declining birth rates are plaguing the whole of Europe and beyond, and in Italy a certain cultural climate has helped push the demographic curve further down. For decades, attention to the family has been greatly lacking and, while elsewhere attempts have been made to address this problem, here in Italy talking about supporting the birth rate almost seemed a taboo. Well, we have broken that taboo, putting the family and the birth rate at the top of the Government’s agenda. We have done so despite not having many resources available: with this budget law and the previous one, we have put in place a package of measures worth over EUR 2.5 billion in total. We are well aware that this is obviously not enough, but we have outlined a clear direction and vision.

However, we are also aware that the Government cannot succeed alone, that we need everyone’s help, starting with those who, like you, roll up their sleeves every day to create employment and produce wealth and well-being for their nation.

Today, the Government is proposing that you sign a pact, because the demographic challenge involves everyone, and needs everyone. It is a challenge regarding Italy’s future, a challenge regarding freedom, particularly women’s freedom. There are unfortunately still too many women being forced to resign from their jobs after becoming mothers; there are still too many working moms who see their career paths hindered by a system that does not recognise the value of what they do; there are still too many women who give up on having children because they experience this choice as being an alternative to professional fulfilment. We cannot allow all this to happen.

So, we must all pursue, with strength and determination, the objective of building a work culture and organisation that does not consider having children to be a disadvantage, but rather supports and enhances the experience of becoming a father or becoming a mother. This is also something the Government has begun to take steps on, from improving parental leave through to reducing taxes for working mothers. However, I am convinced that, together, we can all make a much bigger difference.

We must foster a new awareness, also from a cultural point of view, and share and apply the many best practices that increase productivity in the organisations that follow them, improving people’s well-being and boosting the birth rate. A falling birth rate and lack of freedom are basically two sides of degrowth, and, no matter what anyone says, degrowth is never pleasant. We want Italy to grow, we want its citizens’ freedom, the well-being of its workers, and its productive fabric to grow.

Mother and child-friendly businesses can be key in facing this challenge all together.

Thanks again to all of you, and I wish you all the best with your work on this important day.

[Courtesy translation]