Mattarella: "A common European defense is urgent"

Proceed urgently towards a common European defense. The repeated appeal by the President of the Republic arrives on the day in which theNational unity and the Armed Forces. An anniversary which this year acquires a particular emotional load, due to the disappearance of the four Italian soldiers in Bosnia, but also in light of the recent cyber threats that have affected the so-called “cold chain” in Europe and Italy.

The message to the Minister of Defense

It does not seem a coincidence, in fact, that the Head of State underlines in the message sent to the Minister of Defense the fact that in addition to “traditional conflicts, which continue to bloodied large areas of the world, including Europe, there is widespread disinformation, competition in space, the cybernetic dimension, the pervasive use of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, domains in which acts of aggression are today in worrying and progressive expansion”.

The European effort

Concept reiterated a few hours after yesterday’s meeting at the Quirinale with the students of the military training institutes, on the occasion of the ceremony for the awarding of decorations to the Military Order of Italy. “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”, underlined Mattarella. A scenario, the Head of State continues today, “which requires profound capacity for renewal, in rapidly integrating new technologies and in guaranteeing concrete capabilities for future challenges”.

The Constitution and memory

All within the essential framework of the Constitutional Charter, of which the President of the Republic is the first custodian: “The oath of loyalty of the Armed Forces to the Republic is nourished by the values ​​of its Constitution”, says Mattarella, “a heritage of principles safeguarded so that the relationship with successive generations in the life of the country can combine the memory of the past with the hope for the future of the community, and the atrocities experienced in the world wars are not repeated”.

The ceremonies and condolences for the soldiers in Bosnia

Mattarella’s message precedes the ceremony at the Altare della Patria, first, and the one in Piazzale Michelangelo, in Florence, then. Here the President of the Republic met with the Army Corps General and Chief of Defense Staff, Luciano Portolano, to whom he reiterated his “deep condolences” and “great emotion” for the death of the four Italian soldiers in the helicopter accident in Bosnia.

“On this day, the deferential homage of the Italian people goes to those who sacrificed their lives for Italy, giving us a legacy of freedom and unity that we celebrate with renewed awareness and, today, we turn our thoughts with particular intensity and condolences to our soldiers who lost their lives in recent days in Bosnia-Herzegovina”, Mattarella’s words.

“We celebrate this day with the same pride as always but today with pain and a heavy heart due to the loss that has struck us in Bosnia”, began Portolano before focusing, as did the Head of State, on the new threats facing the Armed Forces. If a century ago, the Army Corps general recalled, the lines to defend had a name, that of the Grappa or that of the Piave, today we find ourselves faced with new and numerous lines to defend, he underlined.

The gold medal to David Tobini

On behalf of the Republic and in honor of all the soldiers who have fallen in the performance of their duty, President Mattarella presented the gold medal for military valor in memory of the paratrooper corporal of the Folgore Brigade David Tobini, killed in a firefight in Afghanistan in July 2011. The President presented the award to the mother of the fallen soldier during the celebration in Piazzale Michelangelo. Before leaving the square, the woman raised her son’s parachutist beret towards the sky. The same sky crossed, shortly afterwards, by the Frecce Tricolori who thus greeted the President of the Republic and concluded the celebrations.