respect for the integrity of States must prevail – Corriere.it

Do not be afraid. In the city of Wojtyla, in the hall of the Jagiellonian University which in the fourteenth century was the foundation of a very first European Res Publica of letters, Sergio Mattarella shows up with a message that goes straight to the Polish guest and to those in this part of Europe who are tempted by the breakdown of unity. No fear of being European, and a veiled reference to those who, even in Italy, make national interests prevail: The need to make Europe a protagonist does not find an adequate response in the vision of a Union as a temporary and changeable sum of moods and national intereststherefore, by definition, perpetually unstable.

The European perspective – says the head of state – is precious for the states, and a reason for hope and strength to reclaim justice, rights, peace, and to widen the circle of countries that bear witness to their adherence to the values ​​of the rights of individuals and peoples .

Under the paintings of the ancient Polish sovereigns, Mattarella recalls Copernicus and the poet Wislawa Szymborska, Marie Curie and the ancient national glories, but above all the European soul of John Paul II, when he supported the trial, the conviction that the “return to Europe” expressed the full character of the Polish identity”. an ultra-European message on the fourth day of the visit. And an appeal also for a common European defense which is particularly felt here, a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border: “It is necessary to overcome the contradictions with courage and foresight – explains Mattarella – of wanting to aim, on the one hand, for a solid defense framework European Union without being able to overcome, on the other hand, the timidity of those who hesitate to advance on the path of integration. One cannot exist without the other”. The “Russian warlike fury” cannot leave us indifferent, says the president, who once again compares Putin’s aggression to Nazi hegemonism: “How can we forget the story of the Sudetenland and the populations of German origin who inhabited them, and of the Munich Conference, that opened to the Second World War?”. The only way is international law and unity: “Today we must all work to preserve the value of this unity. It is a primary good that must be absolutely safeguarded”. There are two wars going on in Europe, one against Ukraine and the other against our founding values.

Poland in the front row, as well as the leader of the Visegrad group inspired by one disunity, and for this reason Mattarella invites us to “reject the temptation to fragment solidarity between free countries, cemented in the experience of the Atlantic Alliance”. However, without losing decision-making autonomy, without subordination: it would be “inadequate to think of a Europe that is the result of the frantic rush to face problems dictated by others, in an international framework decided by others”. Dying for Gdansk? We were asked on the eve of the Second World War, recalls the president: “The consequences of those uncertainties are known”. Because “in Europe history is always contemporary”.