Address by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, at the ceremony for the exchange of End of Year greetings with the Diplomatic Corps

(Courtesy translation)

Most Excellent Dean,

Mesdames and Messieurs the Ambassadors,

allow me to address a greeting to the Deputy Minister, the President of the Parliamentary Commission and the Undersecretaries.

Let me thank the Dean, Monsignor Petar Rajič for his opening remarks to this meeting and for the greetings he addressed to the Italian Republic and to me personally on behalf of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Quirinale, which I thankfully and sincerely reciprocate.

We live at a time in which the international order that we once knew is swaying, with no leeway for an alternativefor the time being.

The logic of power and oppression seek to prevail while the values that we thought already established – human dignity, human rights, equality between peoples and States, solidarity – often seem to be set aside.

Eighty years ago, the international community was restored around the values solemnly enshrined in the United Nations Charter just mentioned by the Dean.

Different sensitivities and histories of the peoples of different continents united to promise, as is written in the Charter:

On the basis of these preconditions, have we always made good headway?

Certainly not. The crystallized balance between opposing powers has long frozen the potential of part of the provisions laid down in the text of which I quoted some points.

Yet, over this span of time, a great number of positive turns have been recorded in international life.

A great many people have conquered their independence.

Humanity has recorded great progress in terms of equality.

Common causes have succeeded to unite the planet around fundamental goals: fighting hunger, fostering health, protecting the Earth’s resources and environment, recognizing women’s rights, just to mention a few.

Controlling the armaments race, especially of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons, achieved significant results.

In the current context, it becomes necessary to forcefully reaffirm that the use, or even only the concrete threat of introducing nuclear weapons in conflicts, appears to be a crime against humanity.

What happened and what is now happening if key players of the “old” international order, through their behaviour, propose giving life to a “new order” based on all forms of abuse, violence, war, conquest and competition between States to hoard resources, thus attempting to perpetuate inequality between peoples?

The hypothesis that this can be the set of values around which to establish a “new order” is to be rejected.

With the corollary of the return of “soldiers of fortune”, mercenaries called to fight in proxy wars in far-away Countries, with no reason other than, precisely, overpowering civilians and Countries that are less structured to hold them back, and less capable of defending themselves.

The Dean, Apostolic Nuncio, recalled the lofty exhortation launched by Pope Leo XIV for a disarmed peace.

The loss of balance in international life has always been a precursor of war because it induces the temptation to oppress, which only leaves an alternative: acquiesce and bow to it, options that lead to war or subjugation, or fight back and redress the balance in order to ward off war.

It is when law prevails and the rules that the international community has given itself are respected that conflicts are avoided and overcoming inequalities is privileged.

This is the road undertaken, albeit among many contradictions, for many years.

This is the objective indicated in the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

It was – and continues to be – the hope of the world that, in the first two decades of this millennium, we thought we could achieve.

However, this prospect was brusquely dispelled a bit under four years ago.

A key player of the international community – the Russian Federation – recklessly chose to overturn this process by restoring, through the use of force, the antihistorical pursuit of spheres of influence, the conquest of territories, and cruel oppression through the use of weapons.

The world’s generations that fought against Nazi-Fascism in Europe, against colonialism and against totalitarianisms in order to claim liberty and rights, often at the cost of their lives, in the pursuit of the cooperation project that ended up with the creation of the United Nations – the most ambitious attempt in the history of humanity to create a regulatory framework for international relations – risk seeing their sacrifices nullified.  

A system created as a guarantee of peace and coexistence – mirroring long discussed and negotiated balances – falls through when it is broken by an international player who thinks it is no longer instrumental to the prevalence of his interests, albeit oftentimes erratic, and that these should prevail over shared values and over the needs of other Countries.

It falls through when alleged – and often fallacious – security needs are claimed with the aim of modifying the strategic balance.

The principle cannot be to make war in order to make peace: it is paradoxical.

Peace as evoked by who, by waging war, actually expects to impose his own conditions, seems to be nonsensical.

One principle remains essential and insurmountable: national or personal interests cannot prevail over upholding the universal value of human individuals, the founding element of every other right and modern-day achievement.

The yardstick – we repeat – is the human individual whois given back dignity – starting with the right to life which is denied in conflicts – in politics, the economy, the struggle against climate change and in technological innovation.

This is another reason why a system created in 1945 patently requires to be updated to reflect the modern-day conditions of the international community and to become more representative and democratic, thus effectively making room for it in areas of the world in which it is not currently recognized.  

Day after day and year after year, starting from the post-World War 2 period, European Countries – which had originated two World Wars –established organizations – now within the framework of the European Union – that made an effort to replace the balancing of weapons – the strategy that characterized the so-called Cold War – withthe balancing of cooperation, of shared wellbeing objectives, and the building of mutual trust. And offered this platform to the whole international community.

The European Union – one of the most successful experiences of democracy and of peace among peoples – was created and enlarged in the constant pursuit of peace – I repeat – and of liberty, which were guaranteed within its context by Treaties freely signed by the European people, who derived their rights and wellbeing from them.

History teaches us that, in international relations, purely bilateral dynamics place the weaker at the mercy of the stronger. It is not acceptable that such dynamics once again become the yardstick of relations between free populations.

The free sharing of principles and norms is not a retention cage but a protection that principally safeguards the weakest.

It is not surprising that they are now challenged by international corporations that expand demanding not to have to comply with any rule: this is not freedom but an arbitrary act.

In the seventy-five years from the Schuman Declaration – that far-sightedly launched European integration – an unprecedented space of common values has arisen that has succeeded to guarantee much more than peaceful coexistence: cooperation among its members and the aspirations of its citizens to rights and liberties, elements that have enabled the continent to develop and advance.

The integration process has not yet been concluded and now faces new challenges while reaffirming its appeal.

The ambitions, efforts and the will of neighbouring populations – from the Western Balkans to Moldovia, from Ukraine to Georgia – must be paralleled by the Union’s active availability to welcome them.

The positive aspects of our experiences hinder us from slipping into indifference before what is going on in the world, jeopardizing the rights, liberties and development opportunities of populations, while prolonged conflicts sow dangerous seeds of hatred that also risk undermining their future.

It is the fourth Christmas of war for the Ukrainian people.

Russian attacks on cities and civilian and energy-producing facilities are multiplying. Civilian victims areincreasingly numerous.

Europe and Italy continue to firmly stand by Ukraine and its people, with a view to achieving an equitable, just, and lasting peace in compliance with international law and the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of Ukraine.  

Our thoughts are also constantly focused on the destiny of the people in the Middle East, the people of the Gaza Strip, which has been martyrized in two years of inhuman violence triggered by the barbaric actions of Hamas and fuelled by a long war. Important glimmers of hope have been sparked: but much still needs to be done to consolidate the ceasefire and avoid it from being nullified, in order to fully restore the provision ofhumanitarian aid to the exhausted population and expedite reconstruction efforts.

Our deepest wish remains that of seeing the onset of peace and stability in the Middle Eastern region. These targets cannot be achieved without the peaceful and secure coexistence of the Israeli and Palestinian people within the framework of the two-State solution whichmust be supported and upheld against any attempt to undermine its feasibility. There are no other options.

These conflicts do not overshadow others, which exist.

I am thinking of Sudan which is undergoing the most serious humanitarian crisis in the world, with over 30 million people in need of primary health care and 12 million misplaced people, one third of whom have taken refuge in neighbouring Countries. I am thinking of the fragile situation in some regions of Central Africa and of the Horn of Africa, whose populations have long been suffering the impact – not only of conflicts – but also of all types of trafficking and external interferences.

I am also thinking of those theatres – such as the Sahelian region and Myanmar – where the change of government through the use of arms and the regression of democracy worsen the condition of entire populations that are prey to insecurity, poverty and underdevelopment.

The international agenda seems to be crowded with conflicts, migrations, and protectionist measures that raise opposition.

We must reshuffle our priorities: peace, development, equality, food security, combating poverty and climate change, and cooperating in favour of free trade.

A world with only a few predestined people sitting at the banquet and many more destined to only hope to collect a few crumbs is not acceptable.  

Most Excellent Dean,

Mesdames and Messieurs the Ambassadors,

In order to give hope to the future of humanity, we need to renew our collective effort so that it can succeed to guarantee protection to the dignity of human beings and States, in a framework of peaceful coexistence and respect for international law.

The reasons of an equitable and sustainable international order must be courageously upheld.

This work cannot be performed without the contribution of diplomacy, the builder of dialogue and bridges between States, governments and peoples.

Thank you for your daily commitment and work to ensure the bonds that unite your Countries and the Italian Republic and I renew to you, your families, and the populations that you represent, my very best wishes for the Christmas festivities and for the New Year.