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Italy celebrates May Day focusing on youth unemployment

Xinhua, May 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Friday called for more policies favoring Italy's unemployed youth.

Giving a speech at a ceremony for the Knights of Labor marking the May Day holiday, the president said "we can't do without young people, they must enter the system as protagonists."

Creating jobs is the nation's top priority, Mattarella said. "Employment is the top priority, we are not resigned nor discouraged," he added.

The president also stressed that developing Italy's southern regions is essential to reduce the economic gap between north and south and to promote equal and sustainable development in Italy.

As Italy's head of state, Mattarella also marked May Day by placing a wreath of flowers on a monument dedicated to Italians who died in industrial accidents.

Italy's CGIL union federation leader Susanna Camusso urged the government to do more to fight unemployment as she celebrated May Day at a joint rally with other labor federations in the Sicilian city of Pozzallo, near Ragusa.

"The government ought to be obsessed with creating jobs," she said. Endit