Good evening. Thank you, I am proud of my new ‘uniform’.

It is an honour to be here with you aboard the Carabiniere, a ship par excellence, a source of pride for the Armed Forces and a masterpiece of technology, innovation and modernity.
I also think that military resources, technology and innovation, are tools. The aim remains to defend Italy’s national interest; the aim remains our credibility in the world, and these goals depend on you. Before any tool that our intelligence can come up with, and that our hands can build, come your professionalism, your motivation, your sacrifices.  

You have chosen a career that involves many sacrifices, because yours is not an ordinary job. You can only make these sacrifices when you have enough motivation to give up a lot, sometimes everything. You have much less freedom to manage your lives than so many others have, and yet you are freer than anyone else. I shall say the same thing to you as I said in Iraq when I visited our military contingent there. The philosopher Gustave Thibon said that being free is not about the extent to which we do not depend on anything or anyone; we are free to the extent to which we live off what we love, and we are slaves to the extent to which we depend on what we cannot love. In your case, you depend on something that you love.
That is why, despite all your sacrifices, you demonstrate what freedom is, and you make your nation freer. 
Italy must thank you, because we are aware of the choices you have made and the reasons why you have made them. This is why we use the word ‘missions’. Admiral, there is a difference between a mission and a task. What is it? The difference between a task and a mission lies in the deep and intrinsic value that is given to said assignment.

I believe it is worth remembering this, it is worth extolling, and those running the country must have the humility to always be present, and to say thank you. The fact that Italy is such a valued, credible and strong nation, as acknowledged around the world, is above all thanks to your sacrifices, your professionalism, your humanity and you holding your heads high.

On behalf of the Government, I wish to thank the Admiral, the Captain and all the crew, especially for everything you do here in the Mediterranean through the operation ‘Safe Mediterranean’. The vast majority of our national interests lie in the Mediterranean. For us, this is a crucial area and, representing the current Italian Government, I believe that the work you are doing is extremely strategic, because, as you have seen, we are going back to making Italy a priority in the Mediterranean, considering its strategic interests. If it weren’t for your patrols, for your fight against illegal trafficking, for your defence activities and supervision of strategic infrastructure – crucial, comprehensive work – we would not have the preconditions to carry out the work we want to do.

You do the bulk of the work and, ultimately, we try to provide what is missing and do our part. So, on behalf of Italy, of the country you represent and love so much, thank you; on behalf of all Italians, our thanks go to you, to your families and to those who love you and, together with you, must also make sacrifices, giving up certain things for something that is inevitably very, very important, for you, for me and for so many of us. 

Thank you and I wish you all the best with your work.

[Courtesy translation]