Mattarella to Rutte: “The challenges are faced together, the EU is a community of values”
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The European Union “is a community of values and rights”, even before economies. “I feel the responsibility of making the EU more and more a common home”. The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, addressed these words to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whom he met today in The Hague during his second day of visit to the Netherlands, accompanied by his daughter Laura and the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani.
The reference to common values and to NATO
Following the presentation, by the EU Commission, of the expected guidelines for the revision of the Stability and Growth Pact which already see the member countries divided and on the day of clashes with France over the migrant issue, Mattarella first of all recalled the role of Italy and Holland as founders of the EU and allies in NATO, “with a solid conviction of the importance of the transatlantic relationship, in the world balance and in the interest of Europe”.
“No country can face the challenges alone”
“We refer to common values - said the president – and this requires great awareness that challenges require a common commitment: no country can face them alone”. This is the only way Europe can do Europe, that is, contribute “as a great supranational political subject to the world balance according to the values that inspire us of peace and collaboration for the well-being of multilateralism. All this means that our common aspiration – continued Mattarella – finds ever greater articulation in the various sectors that arise, such as in the defense of the environment in space, in scientific collaboration and environmental technology. We feel the responsibility of being founding countries ».
Energy, we need “a unified response”
The reference to the energy crisis is explicit. As with the pandemic, a “united response” is also needed due to the rise in gas prices caused by the war in Ukraine. «Europe – the head of state recalled – has gone through many crises, from the pandemic to the energy one also induced by war. The EU has given effective responses and reacted in a united way to the crisis induced by the behavior of the Russian government. As we have overcome the previous crises, it is now necessary to overcome the energy crisis. Our economy is connected and, as I said at the Quirinale on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, in Europe there are small countries and countries that have not yet understood that they are small. Nobody can do it alone ».
The meeting with the students
Shortly before the interview with Rutte, which took place together with the President of the Senate, Jan Anthoine Bruijn, and the vice president of the House of Representatives, Roelien Kamminga, Mattarella had met a group of Italian boys who are attending the Masters in Diplomacy and International Relations in the Netherlands. With Rutte he quoted them: “From them comes a push for a common home and for the construction of a community of values and not just of economies”. To those who thanked him for “the work he does every day for us” and wished him to continue like this, the president replied: “This wish is very important, I need it”.
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