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Prime Minister of Italy & President Of European Council İtalya Başbakanı ve AB Konseyi Başkanı Prime Minister Silvio BERLUSCONI talked about the issues concerning the semester of the Italian Presidency of the European Union and gave a brief preamble on the country's political situation. Coalition Parliaments and Governments live on the rumours that circulate within the democratic debate, but they also live on deeds. Rumours are free and subjective, deeds are not; deeds are objective and closely bound to reality. It is, therefore, necessary to distinguish between theatre and real life, between the legitimate acting out of individual opinions and moods and the real, incontrovertible state in which the Republic's institutions are to be found. Who knows what idea the average informed - or disinformed - Italian citizen might be getting about what is happening today; perhaps that we are going into a tormented period such as that which characterised the previous legislature when the Prime Minister chosen by the electorate was cast out and replaced by the leader of another party that was, in turn, cast out after one and a half years of governing and a catastrophic failure at the polls, to pass along to a third figure a long pre-electoral leadership and eventually to choose yet a fourth to lead the country. While rumours circulate freely and, at times wildly, nothing, and I mean nothing, suggests that the coalition and the government over which I have the honour of presiding, is headed for the same rocky road of its predecessors. To err is human - and the Olive Tree Coalition erred - but to persevere is diabolical and we will not make that mistake. We also have our differences at times, personalities and parties can express themselves strongly, fed as they are on different ideas and traditions, and it happens to cross foils or even swords. There are even those that might brandish the odd dagger - but we do not draw blood, there is no poison amongst us, we are not offering the country a long and inconclusive battle amongst its leaders. What we have promised is simply what we have promised: to offer political stability, solid governing and an ambitious foreign policy, and we mean to carry out all the reforms on which we are currently engaged. Parallel to the European semester, we are in the process of defining the agenda for an energetic and productive Italian semester. We intend to give new impetus to the major efforts and extraordinary accomplishments of these past two years. Italy is no longer the sickly one of Europe. We can make our contribution to the guidance of the Union relying not only on opinions but on facts and figures, objective data recognised by the executive Commission in Brussels and by our partners and allies. We have already begun to reduce the tax burden, which is something that major European countries are proposing to do in 2004; we have kept our public debt under control better than anyone else, thus ensuring the conditions for impacting positively on government spending excesses. We have constructed credible projects for the re-launch of the real economy, and for record growth and employment; we have launched major investments in infrastructure projects that are becoming a crucial European plan for the Union's strategic eastward enlargement; and we have defined new rules for immigration that have yielded results in terms of usefulness, security and humanity that no serious person could underestimate. I was very pleased - and I say this with a slight shade of irony - when the Secretary of the main opposition party espoused the line presented to the Chamber by the Minister of the Interior, including his resolute assertion in favour of the Bossi-Fini Law, "a law that works", as the Minister PISANU clearly called it. I would, therefore, like to thank Senator FASSINO. Let's hope that the opposition will consider with equal enthusiasm Minister TREMONTI's plan for European Public Works, the projects of Minister LUNARDI in their implementation phase, the mortgage-backed securities and fiscal shield for which other countries envy us and imitate as innovative public finance instruments, as well as the reform and modernisation of education and research, the first organic reform of the job market, the reform of business law and the many other things already or soon to be accomplished. Her ne kadar her koalisyonda olduğu gibi başkanlığını yaptığım Zeytin Ağacı Koalisyonu hakkında da çeşitli söylentiler çıkarılmış durumdaysa da, koalisyonumuz güçlü bir konumdadır ve faaliyetlerine son hızla devam etmektedir. İktidara gelirken verdiğimiz sözler bugün için de geçerlidir: Siyasi istikrarı temin etmek, güçlü bir yönetişim ve iddialı bir dış politika yürütmek ve şu anda üzerinde çalışmakta olduğumuz reformları gerçekleştirmek. İtalya artık Avrupa'nın hasta çocuğu değildir. Gerçekleştirdiğimiz reformlar çerçevesinde vergi yükünü azaltmaya başladık, kamu borçlarımızı kontrol altında tutuyoruz, reel ekonomiyi yeniden canlandırma ve rekor düzeyde büyüme ve istihdam temin etme yönünde önemli projeler oluşturduk, altyapı projelerine yönelik önemli yatırımlar başlattık ve ayrıca göç konusunda şu ana kadar son derece olumlu sonuçlar veren yeni kuralları yürürlüğe koyduk. Önümüzdeki dönemde gerçekleştireceğimiz proje ve reformların muhalefetin de desteğini ve takdirini göreceğini umuyorum. Özellikle mali konularda, eğitimin ve araştırmanın modernize edilmesi alanında, iş piyasası ve iş kanunuyla ilgili reformlar alanındaki çalışmalarımız aynı beklenti ve kararlılık içinde devam edecektir. |