"I am here as a father and leader of a community that looks carefully at the agricultural world because our brothers who work in these areas are the ones who make the land bear fruit and, therefore, have great dignity and great human value. We are with them in the defense of their desire to work, in their desire to be put in the best conditions to do work of dignity and quality".
This was said by Monsignor Angelo Raffaele Panzetta, archbishop of Crotone-Santa Severina who visited, in Botricello, one of the permanent structures in place by farmers in Calabria.
"I am very happy - added the prelate - to be here at this moment. And I have come to bring the solidarity, closeness and sharing of our entire church to be together with the workers in this sector and the families. game is not just about them but all of us. In recent days we have all experienced a bit of healthy discomfort because we have had difficulties due to the demonstrations on the streets. But this discomfort has made us understand the problems that these brothers of ours raise before our eyes ".
"We have understood many things - the archbishop continued - because each of us follows our own sector, our own interests, our occupations and efforts. The farmers, their families and all the related industries that revolve around the sector, speak of problems that concern us all. European legislation, with its challenges and questions, the steps of the national government. These are issues that should give us all to think about because Italy and especially Calabria has a vital context in this sector that we want to be preserved and valorised. We must not allow there to be interventions which, instead of promoting this sector, lead, directly or indirectly, to a downsizing. I think that quality tourism and agriculture are the future of Calabria. Our people are making these sacrifices steps. We would like the national government and the EU to create the conditions so that this effort is not wasted."
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