Reply of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella to the words of the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the lower spread in Italy compared to other EU countries of the new wave of Coronavirus.
BoJo had argued that the British love freedom more than we do, hence the greater spread of Covid from them.
"We Italians also love freedom but we also care about seriousness", Mattarella observed in Sassari, on the sidelines of the ceremony in memory of Cossiga.
During a question time yesterday in the House of Commons - in response to a dispute by Labor MP Ben Bradshaw on "why Germany or Italy" currently register fewer official infections on the island without having adopted the new restrictive measures announced yesterday by the premier - Boris Johnson had explained that this is also the result of the liberal mentality more widespread in the Kingdom than "many other countries". "There is an important difference - BoJo argued - between our country and many others in the world since ours is a country that has always loved freedom. If we look at the history of the last 300 years, every advancement, from the freedom of word to democracy, it virtually came from this country ". "It is therefore very difficult - he concluded - to ask the British people to uniformly obey the directives needed today".