To defend "the freedoms of our country and the affirmation of international law against threats coming from outside" it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a common European defense and, at the same time, strengthen the Atlantic Alliance. Sergio Mattarella sees an increasingly "complex" world and raises the alarm: international law is in pieces and the traditional alliances born after the Second World War have shattered, this is the basis of his alarm.
This is why the President of the Republic sees no other solution than to quickly build a common defense of the Union that is immediately highly operational. "In this context, a more concrete and more integrated European effort is necessary, determined in pursuing interoperability of the military instruments of the Union countries, in terms of common defense and strengthening of the Atlantic Alliance, essential conditions for the balance of conditions on the continent", explained the head of state from the Quirinale.
Words not entirely new in Mattarella's vocabulary but pronounced on a formal occasion, November 4, the feast of National Unity and the Armed Forces. With the leaders of the Armed Forces and the highest officials of the State gathered at the Colle, Sergio Mattarella stated that this year the celebration is veiled by a deep sorrow for the death of four soldiers in Bosnia.
"It's a sad day. We have just returned - the president recalled - from the solemn funerals of the four soldiers who died in Bosnia, and thus, once again, it was underlined how high the value of the commitment demonstrated by the Armed Forces, the Military Red Cross and the Guardia di Finanza is". A commitment which, he further underlined, is widely recognized by Italian citizens thanks to the commitment "in stabilization and support missions to the populations in the numerous crisis areas and to those who are operating in support of Allied Countries".
The president also extended the recognition to "military personnel who operate in conjunction with the police forces on the national territory", that is, those who, by virtue of the latest security decree, today work together with the police in Italian squares to control demonstrations.
But Mattarella's concern is the international situation: "we find ourselves in a world which, unlike a few years ago, is complex, with scenarios that are not always predictable; it is true, we can say, with a lower level of maturity than we imagined it could have after the past decades". Changes which, however, is the final call from the Quirinale, must never distance the work of the Armed Forces from the constitutional values that guide "ethics".
Constitutional ethics, therefore, which reminds everyone how our Republic is "aimed at peace, repudiates war as an instrument of offense and aggression for other peoples, and constantly acts as a guardian of peace, dialogue, international collaboration, respect for law and international organisations".
