Address by President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, at the meeting with the Speakers of the Parliamentary Assemblies of the European Union Member States and of the Accession Countries

Messrs. and Madam Speakers,
Mister Speaker of the Senate,
Madam Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies,
Every day the capacity of our continent's democratic institutions is put to the test by the challenges that the agenda of national and international events lays down.
In opening this meeting, allow me to show my respect to the hundreds of victims lying in the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, guilty only of having sought a better future for themselves and their children.

The European Union cannot shrink from tackling the phenomenon of the flow of thousands of refugees from Africa and the Middle East, who flee their homes to escape death, conflicts, persecutions, hunger. It is the very founding principle of our Union that impedes us from ignoring it. The values of peace, liberty, democracy and the respect of individual and community rights hinder us from remaining indifferent to the outrageous tragedies that often unfold only a few miles from the southern boundaries of Europe.

"Making Europe" today means knowing how to effectively respond to this crisis.
Pope Francis defined it "the Third World War": a fragmented war carried out on the territory of the poorest nations. As at the end of the Second World War, of which we are commemorating the 70th anniversary in this 2015, hundreds of thousands of guiltless victims wander around the margins of conflicts in the attempt to uphold the most essential human right, the right to live.

Despicable human traffickers, after having pillaged the migrants, direct them towards a fate that only too often leads them to certain death.
A European Union aware of its values and international responsibilities cannot look the other way.
Yesterday I spoke of the total insufficiency of the initiatives that the international community has taken up to now: I think we need an extraordinary humanitarian initiative involving, in addition to the European Union, international organisations and the United Nations agencies, in order to pass policies tackling the emergency starting from the Countries of origin.
Parliaments, which represent the will of the people and their sovereignty, are in the front line also in this issue, starting with the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

This annual Conference of the Speakers of the Parliamentary Assemblies of the European Union gives me the opportunity to address you and welcome you to the Quirinale Palace.
This Conference is a precious instrument in consolidating the more incisive role attributed to the National Parliamentary Assemblies in the building of Europe.
I am sure to find among you, the representatives of the elected Assemblies of the Union's Member States, an echo of deep agreement with what has traditionally been a priority in Italy's European policy: to work for a progressive and constant reinforcement of the democratic legitimacy of the European Union.

Our Europe is now faced with terribly complex internal problems: in many countries, the economic crisis is eroding the living conditions of citizens. These challenges affect and at times undermine the high ideals that the Founding Fathers laid down as the cornerstones of the European project.

Europe, its instruments and working methods, are being questioned as expectations grow among the public opinion of European Countries and following results that are often considered to be inadequate.
At times criticisms are grounded, unveiling the remaining weaknesses of the European establishment, and often propose excessive simplifications that arise from a misunderstanding of the deepest meaning of the common integration project and of narrow-minded nationalistic aspirations.
The main instrument we have at hand to exit this crisis consists in giving new impetus to European integration.
It is our duty to respond to today's tensions with determination, reiterating at any possible opportunity, that we need more Europe.
A Europe that might once again be perceived by its citizens as being useful, positive and attentive to their needs and to their vision of the future, also thanks to concrete responses and actions.
A Europe capable of putting at centre stage national territories, otherwise doomed to playing an increasingly marginal role in the destiny of the international community.
A Europe capable of positively and effectively contributing to creating around itself an area of peace, prosperity and democracy.
With the Lisbon Treaty, the Union took important steps forward in acknowledging the need for a more focused, continuous and deep-reaching relationship between Community Institutions and national Parliaments, in addition to adequately upgrading their role within the architecture of the whole Union.
Within this articulation, an especially significant role is naturally assigned to the European Parliament, of which Italy is and always has been among the biggest supporters, being deeply convinced of the essential role it plays in progressively consolidating the political cohesiveness of the European Union and in developing its democratic legitimacy. This is what is perhaps highlighted by the difficulties of its economy, the central theme around which the Union's present moment of crisis revolves.
In meeting this challenge, we must be confident. There are spaces and opportunities to be grasped in order to increase the degree of our Union's democracy, without changing the Treaties.
During the semester of the rotating presidency of the European Council, Italy concentrated its efforts on driving development in this direction: favouring more regular contacts between the Commission and national MPs, encouraging Commissioners to increasingly attend the parliamentary assemblies in national capitals, underscoring the need to strengthen the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union affairs.
The aim is to constantly fuel the dialogue between national Parliaments and our common Institutions on important decisions on the future of the Union, which are, more than anything else, our fellow-citizens' "yardstick" for measuring the Union's state of health.
These are decisions that European citizens are entitled to know in order to satisfy the need to evaluate them, giving them the freedom to support or reject them.

This is the democratic ideal that Europe relied on in order to overcome the great conflicts of the 20th Century and it is thanks to this ideal that we succeeded to drive away the spectre of war and to experience, for the first time ever, seventy years of peace, setting up a broad barycentre of security and consolidating the values of liberty.

Starting from our roots and looking forward to our future, solidarity between Nations and peoples is one of the founding principles of the Union, which can be applied in a wide range of domains: from immigration policies and the protection of borders, to energy security, the single market, and relaunching growth and investments.

We must know how to hand down these convictions to future generations, being aware that the memory of our past, of the choices made which have led us to this point, can neither be overshadowed by difficulties nor taken for granted. Democracy is the common heritage that belongs to all of us, especially to Parliaments, to be upheld and legitimated on a daily basis, thus winning the consensus of our European fellow citizens.

Messrs. Speakers,
The Parliamentary Assemblies that you chair, in the performance of their daily duties, address the citizens' needs, options and hopes; your Assemblies also magnify the ideals that I recalled and that are the foundations of democratic coexistence within the Union.
From the decisions taken depends the future of our continent and, to a large extent, of the entire world.

I wish you all the success possible for your actions and exhort you to spare no effort to strengthen this priceless and unique organisation that constitutes the European Union.
Welcome!