ROME (ITALPRESS) – “Alcide De Gasperi was the architect of our country’s postwar reconstruction and a pioneer of a united and pacified Europe. He played a crucial role in Italy’s Euro-Atlantic choice and in promoting the process of European integration.” Thus Chamber of Deputies Speaker Lorenzo Fontana during the commemorative ceremony marking 70 years since Alcide De Gasperi’s death. “A tenacious opponent of any totalitarianism, he paid dearly for his hostility to fascism. Persecuted by the regime, he remained isolated on the fringes of civilian life for a long time, even facing the terrible ordeal of imprisonment. But those sufferings failed to dent the temper of a man who, always inspired by the Gospel message, returned to play a leading role in the crucial years of the Resistance. In the difficult post-World War II landscape, his resolve and strategic vision as a great statesman were decisive for the reconstruction of the country and the reaffirmation of its international prestige,” Fontana added. “Exemplary was his management of the delicate phase of institutional transition after the proclamation of the referendum results. The executives headed by De Gasperi had the merit and the ability to move on the ground of reforms, without giving in to reactionary or revolutionary drifts. In this way they succeeded in creating the preconditions for a stabilization of a moderate kind, which was essential for a community that had emerged torn apart by the war,” stressed the Speaker, for whom “De Gasperi affirmed the importance of a stable and lasting peace among peoples, to be pursued in a climate of solidarity between free and independent nations. In a world divided into opposing blocs, the Euro-Atlantic choice proved to be one of the happiest insights of his foreign policy. In an era like ours marked by conflict and instability, his vision of Europe as a protagonist in international relations is extremely relevant today. Seventy years after his death, the great political and moral ideal heritage left by Alcide De Gasperi therefore retains its value intact. To him we owe our gratitude, for his spirit of service, his dedication to republican institutions and the farsightedness with which he helped ensure years of peace and prosperity,” Fontana concluded.
– Photo press office House of Representatives –
(ITALPRESS).
