Citizens, and especially young people, take charge of their fate and therefore also that of the Republic. This appeal to civic sense, and therefore also to reclaiming politics from below, will be the heart of the President of the Republic’s traditional end-of-year message.
Little foreign policy and even less internal politics for the eleventh New Year’s Eve speech by Sergio Mattarella who will enter the homes of Italians, punctual as always, at 8.30pm on unified networks. He will speak standing, from the study ‘alla Vetrata’ of the Quirinale, with the tricolor and the twelve golden stars of the European Union behind him. Italians busy with dinners and sparkling wines will approach the midnight celebrations by listening to a balance of the year that is coming to an end and visualizing a framework to be filled – with acts for citizens and choices for politics – for 2026. About 15 minutes of speech, on average with the last ones, during which the head of state will certainly talk about peace, or rather the need for peace, but will not enter into the current affairs of international politics having already explored these themes in the speeches of December to ambassadors accredited in Italy and by high state officials.
Calm tones, simple speech but plenty of food for thought with the aim of keeping constitutional principles and values firmly in the collective conscience. Also because, and Mattarella will remember this, 2026 brings a round anniversary: the 80th anniversary of the birth of the Republic in 1946. An anniversary which alone requires a historical brush-up because it represents the roots of the Constitution itself promulgated just under two years later. It is good to remember that at the end of the year it is not a political leader who speaks but the institution that the Constitution designed. The president takes stock, stimulates national unity, seeks cohesion and enhances civic sense. But above all the interventions of the presidents – all of them, not just those of Mattarella – try to represent a compass for a country displaced by conflicts and disoriented in certainties. This is why the head of state will seek direct contact with citizens, especially younger ones, trying to bridge the gap from politics which is increasingly manifested through disaffection with voting. Abstention is a profound weakness of democracy, Mattarella has pointed out several times, witnessing with concern the percentages of voters in free fall.
The themes touched upon will therefore be peace, social cohesion, the commitment of citizens to guarantee the stability of society with particular attention to young people invited to act, not to withdraw into themselves, to take control of their fate. For this reason the president will try to give substance and memory to the republican choice of 2 June 1946. A choice to never be taken for granted, to be treated day after day with personal commitment. The end-of-year message is not just a shared ritual that precedes the sparkling wine, but in the intentions of the Quirinale it would like to encourage a collective reflection on the profound meaning of the Republic, that is, the good of the country.
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