INTERVENTO DEL Presidente DELLA REPUBBLICA
GIORGIO NAPOLITANO
IN OCCASIONE DEL XVI VERTICE DEI CAPI DI STATO DELL'EUROPA CENTRALE

Novi Sad, 19 giugno 2009

Let me first of all thank President Tadi? for the kind hospitality in the historical city of Novi Sad on the occasion of the 16th Summit of the Central Europe Heads of State.

The topics chosen by the Presidency, economy, energy and the EU enlargement, are crucial. They deserve a full fledged discussion in order to highlight and strengthen the cooperation of our Countries toward sharing common responsibilities, defending common interests, promoting peace, abiding by common values.

We are all Europeans, regardless of the different status of our Countries: founding Father of the European Community, new members, candidates, countries so far linked to the EU by the Eastern partnership and its principles of mutual commitment and cooperation.

We are proud of our civilisation and our historical roots. We believe that Europe and its model, based upon the rule of law and the social market economy, can play a paramount role in the so called government of globalisation.

At the same time, I would like to share with you a perception clearly emerged last week in Naples, on the occasion of the informal meeting of the Group of the Heads of State United for Europe. Without cohesion, consistency and unity Europe is bound to become less and less relevant on the international scene. No individual European State, despite its size and its former global role, will be in a position to influence events. In a geopolitical scenario that is moving toward Asia, the decline of Europe would become unavoidable. The new American administration seems to have well understood that only a coherent EU can be a global and useful player.

The economic and financial crisis is a litmus test of how much the European Union can get by acting on a common basis.
The response of the EU to the crisis has been partial. The stimulus to the economy has been mainly national, since economic policy lies in the remit of national States. As it has appeared in the Naples discussions, the EU has mostly coordinated actions financed and implemented by member States.
Nevertheless, the decisions of the European institutions and the direct or indirect protection of the euro have built up our Continent against a crisis of devastating force.
The situation is still serious, even very serious in some cases.
Much more has to be done and can be done by gradually strengthening the economic government of the Union and the check and balances of the financial sector. The current crisis, unaffordable at a national or intergovernmental level, asks for careful protection of the internal market acquis and for sharing further sovereignty among member States.
One telling example is the Lisbon strategy. No one could dispute the importance of innovation and research as a driving force for economic, social and human development. However, without a major involvement of the European institutions, the results have been up to now deceiving and the major goals it was devised for will not be reached.

As for energy, the difficulties of the recent years also show that such a fundamental issue cannot be tackled at a national level.
A coordinated action at the European level is badly needed.
The interdependence between Countries of production, transit and consumption must be clearly understood, giving way to cooperations capable of ensuring both the satisfaction of the States involved and of their citizens.
So far the legal basis, as the experts say in Bruxelles, is missing, but the Lisbon Treaty makes it possible a more cohesive action in the energy field.
Addressing energy means also addressing the crucial environmental issue and, along the lines promoted by the new American administration, enhancing innovations, discoveries and technologies. All this would be highly beneficial for our society, for our unemployed and for our children.

The European Council is discussing the so called guarantees to Ireland in order to open the way for a second referendum on the Treaty.
As I said in Brno at our meeting two years ago, the integration of the European continent is a challenge which affects everyone: the founding States which are determined to protect the supranational and federal features of the EU they created; the new members, which, after fulfilling the dream of the reunification to Europe, would be disappointed by a EU weak, divided and less relevant on the international scene; the candidates and the future members, which are entitled to enter the strong Union they aimed at.
The EU is not and has never been a simple free trade area. It is a community of destinies, values and principles, from the rule of law to freedom, democracy, human dignity and the protection of minorities. Such a profile of the United Europe is the fruit of the integration process throughout the decades. And it has to be clear that a further enlargement of the EU cannot lead to a dilution of the integration process. Italy has been and remains favourable to the accession of Western Balkans to the European Union. We are convinced this is a common European interest. At the same time we say that the pre-condition of any future enlargement is the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in order to strengthen the decision making capacity of the Union and its potential common action.
The EU is and has to be a stability factor, capable of promoting partnerships with its close neighbours and to spread, keep and enforce dialogue and peace through not only its soft power but also its common foreign and security policy.
This is the kind of Europe Italy wishes the new members to live in, the candidates to get into, the partners to cooperate with.
This Europe badly needs the new institutional structure provided by the Lisbon Treaty in order to face the present challenges and speak more often with one voice on the international scene.

Italy has strong and traditional links of friendship with Central and South Eastern European Countries.
In the EU framework and bilaterally, Italy will further help their development.
At the same time, Italy believes that their contribution, after the dark years of totalitarianism, will be of paramount importance to Europe, by providing new idealism and enthusiasm, participating in the building up of our Continent as an area of peace and prosperity, rejecting nationalism and strengthening reconciliation and dialogue.

I am sure that today's sessions and the bilateral meetings will enhance cooperation among our Countries and strengthen our friendship and mutual commitment.
Grazie.