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Mattarella: European countries can’t solve global crises alone

In a lecture at the University of Messina, President Mattarella addressed the EU: ‘The countries of the Union are divided into two categories: those that are small and those that haven’t yet understood that they are small.’

Mattarella: European countries can’t solve global crises alone
Andrea Carugati
2 min read

“The sharp turning point in history that we are going through requires us to draw the appropriate conclusions from the realization that individually, European states are unable to provide adequate responses to the challenges of the present,” said Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the University of Messina, where he gave a lectio magistralis on the occasion of the awarding of a doctorate in public administration.

In his erudite reconstruction of how the European administrative apparatus has evolved from 1952 to the present day, directing the systems of individual states toward progressive integration, the president recalled that “however, the present setup of the European administration suffers from the absence of a truly integrated European political space,” of European political actors and a European public opinion.

“Too often, in the individual national contexts, the EU continues to be seen as a subject that is extraneous to the member states and not as what it actually is: the product of their interaction and cooperation, built over time on the basis of choices made democratically by national parliaments and governments,” Mattarella observed. “The limited political consciousness which the Union has of itself limits its concrete work and results too often in it lacking the proper resolve in the face of the great challenges the states and peoples of Europe are facing.”

Among these, the president cited “climate change, the energy crisis, the shortages of raw materials, migratory movements, the digital transition, defense, cybersecurity.” 

“These are not problems that can be solved independently by nation-states. They require interaction between national, European and, if possible, supranational parliaments, governments and administrations.”

This is even more true in a phase like the current one, “in which highly conflictive and even destructive dynamics are prevalent,” which, “by means of contrast, highlight the decisive importance of the commonality of values and principles that make European states naturally close and necessarily in solidarity.” 

“It is commonplace to claim that the EU is built in moments of crisis and emergency,” as happened with the financial crisis and the pandemic, ”by overcoming myopic conceptions of identity and national interest.”

“However, this attitude doesn’t seem to be enough anymore,” Mattarella stressed. And there is still “little awareness” of the great benefits derived from European integration, from medicines to vaccines and food safety. 

That is why more integration is needed today, no matter what the sovereignists say. To make things as clear as possible, the president recalled a turn of phrase he used back in 2017, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties: “The countries of the Union are divided into two categories: those that are small and those that haven’t yet understood that they are small.”


Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/mattarella-nel-mondo-in-guerra-serve-una-ue-piu-unita on 2025-01-23
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