ROME (ITALPRESS) – Respecting and preserving unity “means living the Constitution in its actuality. To have as a sure reference its founding values: freedom, equality, justice, solidarity. The inalienable rights of every person. It also means recognizing that there are national interests that require maximum convergence. For example, compliance with international treaties and alliances, the defense and security of our fellow citizens and strategic infrastructure, safeguarding the environment and securing our territories. We cannot be divided on these goals, which are inevitably long-term and must therefore be pursued with a commitment that goes beyond the majorities and oppositions of the day.” It is a call for unity that of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, during the traditional ceremony for the exchange of New Year’s greetings with Representatives of Institutions, Political Forces and Civil Society at the Quirinale. A long reflection that touches on multiple themes: respect for institutions, love and care for democracy, the conflicts that set the world on fire and the pursuit of peace. “A fundamental point must always be remembered: respect for institutions in relation to those who hold the role. Just as those who hold institutional responsibilities, starting with the President of the Republic, are obliged to exercise them knowing that institutions belong to everyone,” the head of state said. “That the service one performs is a guarantee of everyone’s dignity, regardless of political affiliation. We have, at all levels, effective, everyday examples of how this is not only possible, but practiced.” A sense of duty “that requires all those who work in any institution, to respect the limits of their role. Without encroachment, without overlapping, without opposition. The Republic lives by this order. It needs the trust of people who must be able to see, in the behavior and acts of those with responsibility, harmony among institutions. There is everywhere a phenomenon of evident, progressive polarization that touches so many aspects of our coexistence,” he continued. “It seems increasingly difficult to preserve the space for dialogue and mediation within societies that seem to be the object of divisive centrifugal forces, with a dangerous reduction of opportunities for dialogue, collaboration, and sharing. This is a dynamic that not only affects politics but precedes it and goes far beyond it. It touches social, economic, cultural, even ethical spheres. The pluralism of ideas, the articulation of different opinions represent the soul of a democracy. This is the cardinal principle of democracies in Western societies. But more and more often there appears to be the path of a radicalization that claims to simplify by excluding listening and reducing complexity to the categories of friend/enemy. “When conflicts are triggered that wound and tear a society apart; when attempts are made to replace the force of reason with violence or the arrogance of the strongest; when growing and unbearable inequalities are nurtured and justified, it is necessary to reflect in order to resume a constructive path. There is a risk that there are no areas kept safe from this tendency to incomprehensible divarication of opinions. A doubt creeps into our public opinions that democratic power is weak, inefficient, slow, and inadequate to govern fast-changing realities. Or even is a penalizing factor in competing with non-democratic systems. It is singular and against reality that we overlook how in democracies decisions made, based on the consensus freely expressed by citizens,” Mattarella points out, “are far more solid and reliable. One has to love democracy. One has to take care of it. It is a guarantee of freedom, promotes well-being and development, a constant pursuit of peace. Goals, these, denied by authoritarian regimes, incapable of giving answers to people’s hopes and, in fact, far less firm and strong than they would like people to believe.”
– Quirinal press office photo –
(ITALPRESS).
