No part of Italian society should see itself as exempt from the effort to save Italy from collapse.

The principal of unity and indivisibility of the republic are the essential reference points.

Now is the time to show maximum responsibility. It is not the time to pay off old scores nor for sterile partisan recriminations. It is time to re-establish a climate of calmness and mutual respect.

Speaking from my experience as a person involved for a long time in building the European Union, it is important to have patience and efforts to build a community of nations.

The country will also need 'new forms of social welfare' instead of its current system which is excessively centred on pensions.

We owe it to our children to give them a dignified and hopeful future.

It's not just we Italians who are caught up in the difficulty.