DistantNews
Support us
🇮🇹 Italy /Elections & Politics

Mattarella Appeals Against Distrust and Voter Abstention

From Corriere della Sera · () Italian

Translated from Italian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Context piece
  • President Sergio Mattarella linked European cooperation and respect for diversity to progress during commemorations in northern Italy.
  • He said growing public distrust in democratic participation, reflected in rising abstention, could be overcome by renewed civic commitment.
  • Mattarella also called inclusion essential, saying minorities are a collective asset.

Sergio Mattarella has not explicitly commented on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government suspending Schengen or on Madrid’s reaction. But during public appearances in Merano and Trento, the Italian president offered a clear defense of open borders, inclusion and democratic participation.

a new phase

· Sergio MattarellaDescribing the period of dialogue and rights opened by the 1995 European treaty.

In Merano, Mattarella marked the 80th anniversary of the Paris Agreement with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen. He recalled that the 1995 European treaty opened “a new phase” of dialogue and the promotion of rights, one that “benefits from diversity and turns it into a lever for progress.” Those words are likely to be read in light of events in Ceuta.

In Trento, speaking at the Autonomy Day of Trentino-Alto Adige, Mattarella returned to the 1946 agreement signed by then-Foreign Minister Alcide De Gasperi and Austria’s Karl Gruber. He said that, for De Gasperi, “the notion of a border as a fence to contain one’s own citizens was entirely foreign.”

benefits from diversity and turns it into a lever for progress

· Sergio MattarellaExplaining the value of European cooperation and diversity.

Mattarella invoked De Gasperi to insist that people come before borders: “You are not a foreigner in your own home.” The article places that message far from the ideas associated with Roberto Vannacci’s calls for remigration.

the notion of a border as a fence to contain one’s own citizens was entirely foreign

· Sergio Mattarella, quoting Alcide De GasperiRecalling De Gasperi’s view during a speech marking the 1946 Paris Agreement.

As parties prepare for the polls, the president also addressed declining participation. “The distrust spreading among citizens toward democratic participation, expressed by the growing tendency to abstain from voting, can be overcome by drawing on examples of genuine selflessness and respect for citizens’ needs and expectations,” he said. Mattarella did not enter the dispute over a new electoral law, but urged Parliament not to ignore what the article describes as an increasingly serious problem. Emphasizing antifascism and rejection of totalitarian ideologies, he ended with an appeal for inclusion: “Minorities are an asset for everyone.”

Minorities are an asset for everyone.

· Sergio MattarellaHis appeal for inclusion and rejection of totalitarian ideologies.
About this summary

Originally published by Corriere della Sera in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog