Mattarella: 'Different cultures do not compromise integration at all'

The meeting with the Albanian president Bajram Begaj and with mayors of Italian municipalities with Arbëreshë communities. The message on the occasion of the Hindu "Festival of Lights". Ideas that today serve the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella to encourage dialogue between communities of different cultures, without ever being frightened by differences, without being afraid of them but making them an added value and an opportunity.

An invitation to integration, to the protection of linguistic minorities, to peaceful coexistence between different identities, while the wind of remigration and Islamophobia blows strongly from the right. "Attachment to one's own culture, to one's roots, to one's own language do not at all jeopardize integration into the life of a new community and, on the contrary, contribute fruitfully to its development", says the Head of State.

"The Italian constitution, in article 6 - recalls Mattarella, always looking at the lodestar of the Charter - entrusts the Republic with the task of protecting linguistic minorities: this is a far-sighted prediction of our founding fathers, aware that the Republic is the fruit of its unity and indivisibility, of the recognition of the valorisation of the different national cultures pre-existing or present in Italy. Law 482 of 1999 implemented this principle. The protection of pluralism, the cornerstone of democracy which does not claim to assimilate differences but to recognize and valorise them, is an essential part of the founding principles of Europe". An integration that does not mean assimilation but valorization of differences, of different identities.

A pluralism that is "the cornerstone of democracy". The history of the arbëreshë community is "a very successful story of welcome and integration". And "in school, in cultural events, in popular festivals, in music, in customs, in artistic expressions and in the daily transmission of the language" young people can "recognize themselves in this heritage and experience it as a resource for their own future". This is demonstrated by the "over 118,000 students enrolled in Italian schools, the thousands of university students enrolled in our universities and the tens of thousands of entrepreneurial activities here animated by Albanian citizens".

Meanwhile, together with Begaj, Mattarella dreams of a Europe with wide borders. "Italy will always consider the European Union incomplete, mutilated until, I hope very soon, Albania and the other candidate countries become part of it", in a project of "peace, freedom and progress". But it is also Dipavali, the 'Hindu Festival of Lights', which pushes the President's ecumenical reflection. The festival which "celebrates the triumph of good over evil, of knowledge over ignorance, expresses a universal message, inviting us to shun hatred and abuse, seeking harmony through dialogue, particularly between communities of different cultures and religious beliefs".

An invitation to meet, to mutual respect: "In an era marked by growing tensions and disintegrating impulses of peaceful relations between peoples, the Dipavali's call to cultivate ideals of hope, sharing and solidarity, consistent with fundamental values ​​guaranteed by our Constitution, helps to inspire the entire society".