Mattarella in Krakow: “The unity of the European Union is a primary asset to be safeguarded”

«The European Union has been able to react firmly to this senseless attempt to subvert the rules of the international order and – with unity of purpose – will continue to support Ukraine. Today we must all work to preserve the value of this unit. It is a primary asset that must be absolutely safeguarded. Successfully facing the serious consequences of the persistence of the conflict, from the explosion of migratory phenomena to growing economic and social inequalities, energy and food insecurity, is the challenge to which Europeans are called”.

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This was reiterated by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in his opening address at the Jagiellonian University of Krakow. «With lucidity – continued the Head of State – it must be understood that proposing to safeguard peace between nations, face the global risks that challenge the whole world – a mission from which, at this moment, the Russian warlike fury is culpably distancing us – first of all it means rejecting the temptation to fragment solidarity between free countries, cemented in the experience of the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union. European security and Euro-Atlantic security are indivisible concepts to be able to defend themselves together with determination and to guarantee and develop the European democratic and social model”.

And he quotes Segre: “Memory is the antidote to indifference”

«Dear students, dear students, it is memory that feeds consciousness which, in turn, makes us fully aware beings: you will certainly be up to this task. Liliana Segre, a survivor of the Holocaust, today a life member of the Senate of the Italian Republic and an unceasing example of commitment, warns us: “memory is the only vaccine against indifference”. Words that are filled with new meanings if we think of what is happening a short distance from here, on the borders of the current European Union».

Mattarella: “More solid partnership between the EU and the African Union, a forward-looking choice”

«The goal of a more solid and fruitful partnership between the European Union and the African Union is a forward-looking choice, capable of anticipating tensions and contributing to the cause of peace. The European Union has performed a valuable function – Mattarella recalled – on the other front that characterizes the borders of the continent, the Mediterranean and African ones. Attention, drawn years ago to the emergence of Islamic terrorism phenomena, today gives way to a negligent and dangerous distraction. The Mediterranean border is an issue that does not only concern the European countries bordering it».