The President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella addressed his greeting to all Italians for the Republic Day on the occasion of the traditional concert in honor of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Italian State.
This is the text of his speech:
It is a great pleasure for me to address – together with the authorities of the Republic who are present – a welcome and a greeting, full of friendship, to the ambassadors accredited in Rome on this occasion of the Italian Republic Day: I thank you for accepting our invitation.
June 2nd is the Feast of Italians, a symbol of the discovery of freedom and democracy by our people. An appointment that strengthens citizens’ loyalty and their support for the Republican system, in its articulation, unitary and respectful, at the same time, of the territorial and social autonomies.
I thank the maestro Marco Angius and the Italian Youth Orchestra – the youngest is 18 years old, the oldest is 27 – who, shortly, will offer us a great moment of art, which we will listen to together with those who follow us, through TV and network: to all of them, I send the most cordial greeting.
We have just celebrated in twenty-eight European countries a great exercise in democracy: the election of the deputies to the European Parliament, confirming the solid roots of an experience that we have been gradually building for the past sixty-two years. Actually, sixty-eight since the first Community body started, the Coal and Steel Community.
Italy has been guided, in this path, by the indications of its Constitution; from the awareness of an increasingly accentuated interdependence among people; from the bitter lesson of the bloody conflicts of the twentieth century. Only the path of collaboration and dialogue allows us to overcome opposition and promote mutual interest in the international community.
The Italian Republic, with acceptance of responsibility in the global context, has contributed, for its part, to the definition of multilateral models and balances aimed at universally guaranteeing peace, development, promotion of human rights.
It is also why, we cannot underestimate the tensions that have manifested themselves, and that manifest themselves, provoking conflicts and endangering peace in many places of the world.
We should recall that – in every area – freedom and democracy are not compatible with those who fuel conflicts, with those who aim at creating insane opposition among identities, with those who foment clashes, with the continuous search for an enemy to be identified, with those who limit the pluralism.
The values of civilizations and cultures of all people radically contrast with that drift and, instead, call on a firm foundation of humanity, to trust in progress. As far as we are concerned, in this year, which is the five hundredth anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, we feel this perspective, in an even more demanding way.
We need to practice attention and mutual respect, in international freedom and legality, to advance on the path of progress, with the dynamism that marks the contemporary world in which we live.
I hope that international coexistence will know how to muster the harmony that music can express.
Best wishes for the Italian Republic Day!
