Covid, vaccines, the future of the government, the PNRR: Prime Minister Mario Draghi takes stock at Palazzo Chigi in the press conference at the end of the year.
OMICRON VARIANT - We start from the pandemic: "The arrival of the Omicron variant - the Prime Minister said - much more contagious than the previous ones has opened a new phase of the pandemic. Tomorrow we will make a control room to decide what to do on the basis of epidemiological data ".
For normality "you have to take all precautions but every decision is guided by data: only by data, not by politics, as they say". In general, we will discuss "for example also outdoor masks, even if they are already foreseen today in the event of large gatherings", the use of FFp2 masks, "especially in certain closed environments".
And "the application of the tampon is not excluded" because "there is a period in the Green pass in which the protection of the first two doses decreases and the third has not yet been done. In that period the tampon is useful". All "systems to try to slow down the spread of the virus".
SCHOOL CALENDAR - As for the option of extending the school holidays to prevent Omicron infections, the premier's response leaves no doubt: "No, we will not lengthen them". "On this Minister Bianchi was explicit in this direction", the clarification, concluding that "I am aware of the difficulties that young people have suffered due to the restrictions dictated by the pandemic".
VACCINES - Speaking of vaccines "we have administered 15.6 million third doses and reached 3/4 of the population, so I invite everyone to continue to vaccinate and take the third dose, this is the priority" because "three quarters of deaths are not vaccinated "and" vaccines remain the best defense against the virus ".
The scientific evidence of vaccines "has also worked very well with the new variants. And the vaccination campaign has been essential for the economy which will grow more than 6% this year after a decline of nearly 9% last year. And "Employment (500 thousand places) has spread again, even if it is true that a lot of employment is temporary. But there has been an increase. Benefits also on public accounts and the debt / GDP ratio will begin to decline as early as this year" .
"The government remains ready to support the economy in the event of a slowdown, the main challenge remains to increase the rate of growth in the long term and solve the structural weaknesses starting from inequalities", he continued.
THE FUTURE OF THE GOVERNMENT - As for government action, "we have achieved all 51 objectives" of the NRP and at the moment the Commission is discussing the signing of the operational agreement which opens the period of one two months of dialogue before to grant the tranche of the envisaged loans ".
On the possible continuation of the legislature "the important thing is that the government is supported by a majority like the one that supported this government, the widest possible". For this reason "I thank the majority because I understand that it is not easy to work together with different ideas and dramatically different starting points". "The daily responsibility lies in the Parliament as well as the continuation lies in the Parliament - he explained -. It is the Parliament that decides the life of the government this year and always ".
"My personal destiny - he therefore said regarding a possible candidacy for the Quirinale - counts absolutely nothing, I have no particular aspirations of one type or another, I am a man and a grandfather at the service of the institutions". "I don't imagine my future inside or outside the Institutions. I said it once when answering a question asked by some kids at the Torre Maura lighting point: the important thing is to live in the present and do it as well as possible. . Maybe I'm wrong, but the reasons for the success of the government, for me certainly but I think also for other ministers, is that it has worked on the present without wondering what is in the future, what is there for me in the future ".
(Unioneonline / D)