Mattarella: “There are no more words for the lack of safety for those who work”

The President of the Republic's warning: "The Constitution is pro-labour and anti-fascist"

BOLOGNA – A thought for the “very serious fatal accident at work yesterday, yet another tragedy at work”. This was addressed by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, speaking in Bologna at the Biennial of Cooperative Economy. “There are no more adequate words – he adds – to express the alarm and anguish for the accidents that affect those who are working, for the insufficiency of safety for those who work”.

The President of the Republic then speaks of the Constitution: “It was the project for the transformation of Italy, once freedom was conquered and the choice was made to proceed on the terrain of social rights as an essential part of the condition of citizenship. The Charter bears, strongly impressed, four characteristics. It is a ‘laborist’ Constitution, from the first article. It is a ‘personalist’ Constitution, with the person, the social formations in which this person is expressed, and his rights, as the essence of the system. It is an ‘autonomist’ Constitution, which entrusts local autonomies, with the criterion of subsidiarity, with the responsibility of giving answers to citizens. It is a Constitution ‘antifascist‘, which is based on the fight for Liberation, the matrix of freedom and democracy”.

The environmental theme is very dear to Mattarella: “I would also like, at the opening of the proceedings, to address a thought of solidarity to the city that hosts us, to the relatives of the victim and to the families who are suffering the consequences of the bad weather. The floods are hitting these lands with a frequency and intensity that we did not know. But the tragedies to which thousands of families are forced are also a consequence of transformations that have occurred in the territories for decades. An extraordinary commitment is needed that involves institutions and civil society, businesses and citizens and that does not underestimate the need for rapid safeguard measures”. After these words there was a long applause from the audience.