Council of Europe: Mattarella in Strasbourg, “imperialism and neo-colonialism should no longer have a right to exist in the third millennium”

“History reminds us that stability and peace are not guaranteed once and for all. Peace is not imposed automatically, without effort, but is the fruit of human will”. The President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, said this in his address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. “As Robert Schuman reminded us, ‘peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it’. If we pursue common goals, it is no longer necessary for someone to lose in order to win. We all win together”. “Today, we live again the – unexpected because unpredictable – nightmare of war on our continent”. Yet, the Head of State stressed, “imperialism and neo-colonialism should no longer have a right to exist in the third millennium, whatever the appearance behind which they disguise themselves... The time has passed for countries to dominate others”. And he went on to stress: “The responsibility for the sanction approved” against Moscow, which excluded Russia from the CoE, “falls entirely on the Government of the Russian Federation. I would like to add: not on the Russian people, whose culture is part of the European heritage and who are criminally kept unaware of what is really happening in Ukraine”.
Valentina Bombelli