The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella arrived at the University of Trieste this morning, around 10.45 am, shortly after the former President of Slovenia Borut Pahor, to receive an honorary master’s degree in law. “The world needs peace, stability, progress, and the European Union is called to give concrete answers to the aspirations of those peoples who are looking at the most impressive cooperation project conceived on the rubble of the Second World War”, reported President Sergio Mattarella, in the Aula Magna, after the awarding of the degree. Recognition which was also awarded to the former Slovenian president, Borut Pahor, for their commitment in favor of pacification in the lands of the foiba. The two had held hands in front of the foiba of Basovizza in July 2020. Mattarella and Pahor were welcomed by the prefect of Trieste, Pietro Signoriello, by the president of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga, by the mayor of Trieste, Roberto Dipiazza, as well as by the rector of the University, Roberto Di Lenarda , and by the Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini.
Mattarella: “EU project increasingly urgent and essential”
“The European project is more essential and urgent than ever, also in light of the brutal and unjustifiable aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. This applies not only to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, but above all to the countries of the Western Balkans which over twenty years ago they began this challenging process of integration”, added the head of state.
“The EU feeds on diversity, it is its strength”
“The sum of “minorities” within EU countries exceeds the large number of 50 million fellow European citizens. Along the path undertaken in these thirty years, Slovenia and Italy have been able to break down barriers and obstacles, managing to overcome the very notion of border. In its place there is Europe, a common space of integration, dialogue, promotion of rights, of a shared culture that feeds on diversity and makes it a strength”, he added and then underlined: “Europe it is, at the same time, both the fruit of the reconciliation processes between countries that fought on opposing sides during the Second World War, and the accelerator of the indispensable settlement of differences, a legacy of the past, and which we have demonstrated our ability to overcome to build an effective and lasting future of peace.”
“Day of remembrance against conflicts”
President Mattarella then underlined how in recent years, Slovenia and Italy have developed “a constant and fruitful dialogue, fueled by the awareness that common adhesion and belonging to the European home and to Euro-Atlantic values represent that element of identity that strengthens our countries look towards the future”. “Reconciliation with history does not free us from the duty to know and remember it, as Borut Pahor has repeatedly underlined. It does not lead to convenient readings of the past nor does it relativize the responsibilities of each individual, but allows us to cultivate feelings of respect for the suffering of each individual, instead of harboring resentment and opposition. The Day of Remembrance, established by the Italian Parliament in 2004 and which recalls, in particular, the suffering of the Istrian-Julian and Dalmatian populations, is part of this process”, added the head of state. And again: “Remembering the events, which have had such a profound and painful impact on the lives of the populations on the eastern border, also means respecting the suffering of others”, he added.
“With a visit to Foibe, the present is stronger than the past”
“With the joint visit to the Basovizza foiba and the monument to those shot in the Tigr, together with President Pahor we wanted to testify that what unites us today is stronger than what separated us in the past and that, together, we know how to commemorate the victims of those bloody years. There are places that in history become emblems”, he then added, referring to the meeting in Basovizza, on the Carso, in 2020, in which Mattarella and Pahor paid homage to the victims of the Foibe holding hands. “The restitution of the “Narodni Dom” building to the associations of the Slovenian minority in Friuli Venezia Giulia sanctioned on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of its fire, and I thank this University for the significant contribution made, it represents the acknowledgment of a maturation, on a historic day , as President Pahor defined it, which also affirms the mutual commitment to the protection and promotion of minorities, in compliance, as far as we are concerned, with our Constitution and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights”.
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“Exasperated nationalisms of the 20th century have shocked Europe”
Then the denunciation of nationalism. “The wounds caused by the tragedies of the twentieth century cannot be erased. The wars fought without any respect for the populations, the violence and the exoduses, have affected and shocked Europe, at the mercy of a struggle fought by exasperated nationalisms. The Second War World, which those nationalisms have unleashed, has destroyed the lives of millions of people on our continent, has dispersed families, forced migrations”, he added.
“Free universities, even in dissent from power”
President Sergio Mattarella also spoke about the unrest in universities. “Universities have always been a place of free debate, criticism and even dissent towards power,” he said. Debate, criticism and dissent connected between the universities of all countries, above borders and above conflicts between states. If this connection, this precious exchange of reflections, collaborations, experiences is severed, rights are not helped, freedom or peace is not helped, but the strength of debate, criticism and dissent is weakened. We help the power, the worst one, which has always tried to keep the universities of its own country isolated, to prevent their connection with those across the border”.
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