SERGIO MATTARELLA

Corruption has reached an unacceptable level. It devours resources that could be devoted to the citizens. It impedes the proper carrying out of market rules and penalizes the honest and capable.

I had no intention of entering politics, but then the force of events led me to become involved in politics.

In all these years, I've always tried to emphasize and to promote the need to combat the Mafia. Because it is a cancer which is oppressive and which stifles everybody's freedom and reduces the possibility for the areas in which it's present to prosper and to develop.

Corruption has reached an unacceptable level. It devours resources that could be devoted to the citizens. It impedes the proper carrying out of market rules and penalizes the honest and capable.

In all these years, I've always tried to emphasize and to promote the need to combat the Mafia. Because it is a cancer which is oppressive and which stifles everybody's freedom and reduces the possibility for the areas in which it's present to prosper and to develop.

I had no intention of entering politics, but then the force of events led me to become involved in politics.