“I hope for great participation.” Mattarella’s appeal for the European elections

The date is approaching European elections, which will be held from 6 to 9 June 2024; an important event for all EU citizens, and the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella he hopes that many will turn out to vote to express their preferences. Speaking at the Brdo celebrations for the twentieth anniversary of Slovenia’s accession to the European Union, the head of state took advantage of the opportunity to recall the importance of voting.

“In a few weeks, around 400 million citizens will go to vote. It will be a great exercise in democracy and I hope that there will be great participation, because in this way citizens are protagonists of their future. It will then be the task of the European institutions and governments to ensure that the Union becomes a protagonist on the international scene”, declared the tenant of the Quirinale, as reported by the press agencies. It will then be necessary to have the right courage to do it reforms incisive, a task that will fall to the next European Parliament. It is important, according to Mattarella, to make the European Union a protagonist at an international level, and capable of making its own contribution to peace, collaboration and stability. “We cannot remain in a condition in which Europe and all its member states are consequently often spectators of what happens in the international community even in the face of events of which they sometimes suffer the consequences“, added the president.

But what are the reforms desired by Sergio Mattarella? Interventions on economy and businesses come first, as does the ability to make timely and common defense decisions. Hence the importance of strengthening the Born. “There are needs for reform that are institutional in nature, because problems in this world arise quickly and require timely responses. The European Union is not in a position to take timely responses, because problems don’t wait”, has explained. “The second reform concerns the common defense of the Union, which is indispensable“he added, citing the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.”A third proposal concerns the Union’s financial system which needs to be completed, it is incomplete. An incomplete financial system cannot last for long, otherwise it collapses and dissolves, also overwhelming the economy of the member countries“, he concluded.

The President of the Republic also recalled the May 1st 2004, the date on which nine countries joined the Union, for a total of 75 million new European citizens. “The Union passed to 25 States, committed to the implementation of the common principles of freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law. Precisely for these principles, to defend them, affirm them, in the aftermath of the Second World War the idea of ​​the integration of the Continent was born, conceiving the Union that was born, in its various forms and evolutions, as a community of values, not as a simple framework of useful economic collaboration“, explained Mattarella. That Europe, added the president, “she knew how to be wise and courageous.

Today, because events demand it, we need a similar constructive spirit in the face of the challenges and threats we face.”