The Expedition of the Thousand

In November 2021, with the signing of the Quirinal Treaty in Rome, Italy and France signed an enhanced bilateral cooperation pact, which aims to strengthen mutual collaboration and improve relations, particularly in the industrial and cultural sectors. The first concrete follow-up to the signatures affixed five months ago by the French President Macron and the Italian Prime Minister Draghi concerned, in mid-February, the young people of the two countries and the instrument of civil service.

The two governments, in fact, represented by the Minister of Youth Policies Dadone and by the Secretary of State in charge of youth Sarah El Hairy, with a declaration of intent confirmed their willingness to proceed towards the establishment of an Italian-French civil service, with the objective of intensifying exchanges of young people using the existing national civil service structures and provisions, up to triple the current flows.

In practice, the opportunity for Italian and French boys and girls to increase their skills and live an experience that has long been recognized as a model of inclusion at the service of the community and a tool for promoting the common good and citizenship values ​​will increase. active and solidarity.
Italy and France, therefore, choose to accelerate on the issue in line with the commitments undertaken for this 2022, declared by the EU institutions European Year of Youth: an appointment declined by France (within the framework of his semester as President of the Council of the EU) in the optics of greater involvement of young people and their easier mobility.

The agreement will initially concern about a thousand young people and also aims to involve those who are at risk of marginalization or exclusion, such as NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training), young people who are not engaged in receiving an education or training. , do not have a job or seek one, and are not engaged in other comparable activities, such as internships or housework. In Italy almost one in four young people between 15 and 29 years of age find themselves in this condition (in France the figure is more contained but still worrying, we are around 15%).

The incidence is higher among girls, but for all the data has increased compared to the levels prior to the pandemic: yet another demonstration that Covid-19 has had far wider consequences than those (already terrible) of a health nature.
The civil service is certainly capable of making a positive contribution, ultimately favoring the human and personal growth of these young people as well.

If this will be the case for those involved in the exchange experience with France, it must also be the same for those who would like to experience the civil service close to home: in Italy, for some time now, the available places put up for bids have been lower than the number of applications presented. thus forcing many to give up.
Long live the agreement with France, but there is already a lot to do in our house.

Stefano Caredda
NP March 2022