Italian President Sergio Mattarella, currently on a tour of the South Caucasus, on Tuesday (17 July) addressed students at Tbilisi State University about his vision for Europe's future.
The European Union needs "a system that leads to greater stability, integration of concentric, differentiated and open circles, one that synthesis but does not mortify the many identities that represent the riches of our continent", the Italian president told the assembled young Georgians. "In this context, young people and culture play a crucial role: the Erasmus students represent the hope for a Europe 2.0, a Europe without any mental or material boundaries".
The Italian president said that today more than ever "young people and culture play a crucial role in this context". "It is through culture that it is possible to appreciate the respective specificities, and to understand those of others. Only knowledge and respect of history allow us not to retrace roads that lead to dangerous simplifications." "
"Regardless of the difficulties the project that has made the Union a unique success in history, a center of attraction based on the principles of liberal democracy, an area of peace and prosperity, needs to be pursued with determination" added the Italian president.
"The EU maintains the charm of a unique project that pursues ideals, for those who want a system based on shared rules, which requires co-existance, a common commitment, and not to confrontation and opposition".
Referring to the new relationshipm of Georgia with the European Union Matarella said that "Georgia can produce and export without tariffs thanks to the free trade area with Europe, but also with many other regions of the world. Georgians have experienced the extraordinary advantage of freedom of movement : over 250,000 of its citizens have visited the countries of the European Union since the entry into force of visa liberalization, in little more than a year."
Matarella left Georgia on Tuesday evening and is now in Azerbaijan. Duiring hisd visit to the region the Italian president is accomp[anbied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Enzo Moavero Milanese
source: commonspace.eu with RAI
photo: Italian President Sergio Mattarella accompanied by the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Irakli Kobakhidze, in Tbilisi on 17 July 2018 (picture courtesy of the press service of the Italian presidency
