italian → English transcript

This is not so even when faced with the process, which to many now seems unavoidable, of

demographic freezing of Western societies. Even here, as I have said many times, decline

is not the only possible scenario. Decline is always a choice. Fighting that decline

is our choice. And we will make every necessary effort to rebuild a society that is

family-friendly, supportive of childbearing, in which parenthood is a socially

recognized, protected and supported. In which the family is once again recognized

and valued for the irreplaceable role it plays. And I say this also to announce that one

of the priorities on which we intend to work, together with the Minister of Infrastructure Matteo

I thank Salvini; he has a major housing plan with capped prices for young couples.

Because without a home it is much harder to start a family. Despite the scarce

availability of resources we had, this Government did not refrain from making choices

that were courageous, guaranteeing in 2024 alone net benefits for families of over 16 billion

euros, increasing months of paid parental leave to 80% pay, and making nursery

care free for the second child, just to cite some measures that, however, make the issue

of work–life balance a concrete reality and not merely a touted slogan.

But we must also acknowledge that all this risks being in vain without a cultural climate

new and different, which we must build together. Bad teachers have proclaimed for decades

that parenthood was an archaic and patriarchal concept that had to be fought and replaced

by more modern values. But there is nothing modern in renting the womb of a

poor woman, in legally depriving a child of the presence of a father or a mother, in conveying

the message that parenthood is an enemy of personal fulfillment or even that

children should not be brought into the world because they pollute. Only ignorance can support

these delirious theses, and you cannot build any modernity on ignorance.