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60th ANNIVERSARY OF THE TREATIES OF ROME

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Roma  ||  25 March 2017
Iniziative (EN) - Maison de la Paix (EN)

The European leaders in the Horace and Curiazi Room, in front of the document of' 57, called to sign a text to relaunch European integration in the next 10 years.
Juncker:"There will be a 100th EU anniversary”.
Gentiloni: "Return confidence to our fellow citizens".
Mattarella: “Start a constituent phase”.
One signature after another. Twenty-seven names have renewed in Rome a common dream and with the ink of the same pen that 60 years ago designed the first Europe, undersigned its commitment to defend its idea and unity.
For the Rome declaration, the European Heads of State arrived in the capital to reaffirm those wedding votes pronounced in 1957 in the eternal city, despite the divorce of an unsatisfied partner, the United Kingdom.
For diamond weddings, the 27 entered the Renaissance palace where on 25 March sixty years ago the Treaty establishing the Union was signed, and signed new key concepts: the unity of Europe, its indivisibility and the possibility for groups of countries to proceed faster than others in certain sectors.
"These are signatures that remain. There will be a 100th anniversary of the EU,"predicted European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on his arrival, but he also called "very sad" a meeting without the UK. The great absence was indeed the British Prime Minister Theresa May, who decided to start the complex process of separation from the European bloc next Wednesday. And it is a stormy Europe that is celebrating its anniversary today, which is riddled with winds of discord, doubt and popular distrust.
"The 27 must prove to be the leaders of this Europe,"warned European Council President Donald Tusk. "The Treaties will need to be revised, all of them.
Now begins a constituent phase" added after the signing of the declaration the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.
Accomplished under the sun by Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, the Heads of State crossed the large square of the Capitol designed by Michelangelo, directed to the hall of the Orazi and Curiazi, which hosted six of them 60 years ago.
Europe "could die" if it does not rediscover the ideals of the founding fathers, as "solidarity" said Pope Francis to the Heads of State and received them yesterday in the Vatican,"but it can regain hope in solidarity, which is also the most effective antidote against modern populism".
After the solemn commemoration of the Treaties, the Heads of State went to the Quirinale to meet at 13:30 the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. Welcoming them, he congratulated them.