Time.news – A confirmation of the unique bond between Italy and France, a relationship of genuine friendship and esteem between the two presidents, a strengthened axis on which a reform and renewal project for the European Union must be born. Sergio Mattarella is received at the Elysée by Emmanuel Macron and the path to the presidential palace underlines the importance given to the interview: tricolor flags in the streets, 150 French cuirassiers on motorcycles and on horseback to open the procession, a warm embrace from the president in the courtyard of ‘honor. Then almost an hour of face to face, with delegations limited by the pandemic.
“Mattarella is a friend and a personality for whom I feel esteem and affection”, sums up Macron. Then the two presidents underline all the points of sharing: the common fight against the pandemic, support for the new European course, excellent economic, social and cultural relations, attention to the digital transition, climate change and news in the world of the economy. . For this, explains Mattarella, “I am delighted that my first visit after the pandemic is to France because our countries share a bond that I too have repeatedly defined as unique, which is based on shared values, shared history, common visions “.
© LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
Mattarella and Macron
And the “natural” consequence will be the signing of the enhanced cooperation treaty which should see the light, in the intentions of the two presidents, within a few months.
But above all what unites Mattarella and Macron is the attention to the future of young people, to whom the Next generation EU speaks for which both Italy and France have committed themselves to a common vision in Brussels. The first tangible sign will be the start of the Italian-French civil service program for young people from both countries.
Focus of the interview, for the two presidents, the future of Europe, a real new project on which that conference that has instead started a little under the radar must work. “The conference on the future of Europe is not a bureaucratic occasion, or an occasional passage, but it is a historic occasion”, recalls Mattarella. It is a question of “re-designing an efficient condition for the EU to be a protagonist of the international community in a manner appropriate to our time and the future”.
While the Eurosceptics regroup, Italy and France look to a new way for the Union. The conference on the future of Europe, explains the President of the Republic, must produce “a project of renewal and reforms”. “From the conference, a Europe must be born that knows how to chart its own future” to give young people, once again, the ability to dream, summarizes the French president. A vision, Mattarella warns, that France and Italy share and that it is now “essential” not to waste.
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