Rimini, 25 August 2023 – The war in Ukraine, migrants, but also social and ethnic hatred at the center of speech of Mattarella today guest at Rimini meeting. The President of the Republic was greeted by an ovation as he entered the room, introduced by Bernhard Scholz, President of the ETS Foundation Meeting for Friendship among Peoples. “It is in moments of confusion like this – Mattarella recalled – that the Constitutions fulfill their truest function: that of being a point of reference for everyone”
President Sergio Mattarella at the Rimini Meeting (Petrangeli)
Our Constitution was born “to overcome, to expel hatred, as a measure of human relations”, began the Head of State, with an explicit reference to what is happening “on the borders of our Europe”. “There is never a shortage of pretexts, to fuel contrasts. Whether they are the invocation of ideological oppositions, of ethnic characteristics, of deceptive class struggles, or the claim to resurrect anachronistic nationalisms”, Mattarella said. and theinvasion of Ukraine “it is dramatic testimony to it”. Despite the difficulties “we don’t want to give up today hope of peace in Europa”.
The path is that of “respect for diversity”. The President of the Republic extends the concept of “just peace”, including in it a solution to the “refugee drama”. On migration policies “it is necessary to take different paths. If the sense of human fraternity is not felt, for better security”. Migration phenomena, “must be faced for what they are: global movements, which are not in o barrier”. Hence the appeal toEuropean Unionwhich invites to a “commitment, finally concrete and constant”.
Mattarella’s speech did not miss a passage to the land that hosts the Meeting and which is still facing the consequences of the recent one flood. “Citizens of Romagna – and their mayors – should not be left alone”.
