Good morning everyone. 

I wish to thank Poste Italiane’s President Bianca Farina, CEO Matteo Del Fante and Co-General Manager Giuseppe Lasco. My greetings go to all the authorities present here today, awaiting the arrival of President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. Special thanks and greetings go to His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa, to the Ministers, whom I shan’t name again one by one, to all authorities present, and, above all, to all the mayors in the audience today.

President Farina is right: I don’t know if you can see yourselves on the screens, but the impact of this filled auditorium is extraordinary; a moving sight not only because of the multitude of tricolour sashes, which as you know I am always touched by, but also because of what those sashes represent. It is like having citizens from all of Italy in front of me, because this auditorium and all of you represent those citizens here today. A captivating and enthralling sight, and what the (very nice) video presenting this initiative said was right: we know that Italy is above all founded on its municipalities. We know that a crucial role is played by each of those municipalities, regardless of their size, their latitude or the distance that separates them from a larger town or city, regardless of how famous they are, because it is thanks to those municipalities that we have safeguarded, and continue to safeguard, Italy’s identity, which is this nation’s greatest treasure.

We know that municipalities have always been the institution closest to citizens, that citizens are most aware of in their daily lives; they are called upon to somehow respond to any problem, even beyond their remit. We also know that mayors are the front line of political engagement, more so now than in the past; we know that they probably do the most difficult job among those who are called upon, who choose, to work in politics, who choose to represent their fellow citizens. I am saying this, and allow me to joke: I managed to become President of the Council of Ministers, but I didn’t manage to become a mayor, so it is not such an easy thing to do.

It is a relentless commitment that knows no boundaries, as it can almost never count on the resources and tools that are needed to do the job well. In many respects, this challenge is even more difficult for mayors of municipalities with less than 15,000 inhabitants, as they often have even fewer resources, tools and potential to provide efficient responses. 

I am particularly pleased to be here today, in an auditorium full of mayors from municipalities with a population of less than 15,000, and I wish to thank them on behalf of the Government for their dedication, for their generosity and also for the creativity they often use in doing their best to provide citizens with answers, in the difficult conditions municipalities find themselves in today.

To them, and to all mayors, I wish to once again confirm the Government’s commitment to do everything we can to make their job easier: from simplification to digitalisation, right through to dealing with abuses of office. No mayor wanting to provide responses to their citizens should be slowed down, nor be afraid to give their citizens the answers they are looking for.

I believe that, faced with the challenges we have, all institutional levels must loyally help each other. At times like this, in the climate we are being called upon to operate in, I do not believe there is any room for personal ambitions, I do not believe there is any room for political squabbles to the detriment of citizens. I believe we must all work together, and do so loyally and with respect for our differences, because this nation needs a responsible ruling class.
In my view, the Polis project we are presenting today meets that very need: to provide municipalities with tools that are adequate for these complex times, in order to bring institutions closer and closer to citizens.

This is an impressive project. It is a project for the whole of Italy, supported by a very large investment: over EUR 1 billion, EUR 800 million of which from the NRRP’s complementary fund and EUR 320 million from Poste Italiane.
This is a comprehensive model of cooperation between a company that is strategic for the country, such as Poste, and central and local government. 

It provides Europe with an innovative social inclusion model; yes, we can still be a model for others. This nation can still be an example for others to follow, a model that others copy.
In the video we saw at the start of today’s event, at a certain point we heard “Italy has taught others”. This is true, we have taught others a lot of things, but we must not forget that there is still a lot we can teach. Today, this project is teaching others, which is why I believe it is so important. I consider it to be very important because this initiative sends out the message that we want to unite Italy, we want to strengthen the ties between core areas and inner areas, we want to mend the fabric between the largest cities and the smallest communities, and we want to ensure all citizens, regardless of where they live and work, have the same right to access services in a simple and quick way.

We will not resign ourselves to the idea that there are major league and minor league citizens, major league and minor league areas, major league and minor league services. From Rome to Montelapiano, from Naples to Ingria, from Milan to Macra: one Italy, with the same services for everyone and the same rights for everyone. 

One Italy, where all levels of central and local government come together to serve the public, rather than considering the public as being at the service of the institutions, as was sometimes the case in the past. 
One Italy, where the State does not accept the depopulation of the country’s inner areas, because it knows that every village, every church tower, represents its backbone.

One Italy, where no one feels excluded, or a child of a lesser God, or abandoned by the institutions.
One Italy, working together to become more modern, more inclusive and more sustainable.
In my view, such an ambitious project, with such an important message, could only have been carried out by Poste Italiane. 

I wish to thank all employees of Poste Italiane, a strategic company that has always been an extraordinary resource for this nation and an irreplaceable ally of the State in the relationship between citizens and institutions.
Poste Italiane is present where often almost everything else is missing. Poste Italiane is an extraordinary point of reference for Italians, an outpost for institutions’ presence throughout our country, a long-standing company that has never given up on keeping pace with modernity, that has always projected its 160 years of history towards the future and that, today, with this initiative, takes another important leap forward. 
This initiative has two major objectives, as has already been mentioned.

To create ‘one-stop PA counters’, allowing citizens to access many services at the post office – services which, until now, have been provided in a highly fragmented way. In the past, you would perhaps have to travel 80 km for such services, or you would have to spend time and energy to first understand which institution provided the service you needed. Today, it will be easier for the public to get many of the responses they are looking for, as they simply have to go to the post office.

Then there are the 250 ‘Spaces for Italy’, offering Italians the most extensive training and co-working network in the country, with close attention paid to environmental sustainability through the renovation of buildings, which will be equipped with photovoltaic systems and charging stations for electric vehicles.

This is a project that looks to all aspects of the future, and that will have a tangible and important impact on citizens’ lives, because it is an initiative that helps you save the one thing you can’t get back if you are robbed of it: time.
The time that this initiative will save citizens is extremely valuable, and I am proud to be here this morning to present this project on the very day that marks this Government’s 100th day in office. It is an honour to lead this nation’s government and I am pleased because time is also what our approach in this adventure revolves around. Time.

Taking the time to make strategic choices and not allowing yourself to be chased by immediate needs, by performance anxiety, by the need to have people talk about you every day; taking the time to reason.
This is why we have the major goal of giving Italy a Government that lasts for five years, that is able to look to the end of those five years, that knows that the most effective responses lie in the medium term.
Strategy is a matter of time. It is a job that we must do together, it is a job that we can do together: choosing where we want to take this nation. We have to remember that this nation can and must continue to have the role it deserves in the current context, at global level. 

Our major goal is for everyone to row in the same direction. Today, this initiative, which brings together people with completely different backgrounds, who perhaps have completely different ideas about many things, but who decide to work together at various institutional levels, rowing to once again make Italy the admired, copied and loved nation that it has been for most of its history, fills me with pride and, for this, I thank you.
Thank you.

[Courtesy translation]