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

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.

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

It takes a lot of effort to win back credibility after having lost it so heavily.

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

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

It is a responsibility we perceive from the entire international community to protect the stability of the single currency as well as the European frame work.