An important occasion

Future European elections are an important occasion. Not to underestimate. Not to be missed. We must say with strength and determination the Europe we want.
Which many of us want deep inside. What a disappointment when we see that on many occasions, in the search for peace and the common good at an international level, our representatives, rather than speaking with a single voice, take advantage of this to position their own country and their own interests. This is not the Europe we want.

The card. Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, when meeting Retinopera, said: «We cannot think about it alone, we cannot imagine putting things right "at home" without understanding the connections this has with the common European home and vice versa. I say this as a concern of these last months, also in the face of the evident challenges and the objective difficulty of Europe in translating so much awareness, so much richness of humanism and centrality of the person, into practices capable of addressing problems with wealth, with humanism which is a constitutive part of Europe".

We must remind each of the candidates we will meet in view of the next elections of the energy of the founding fathers in building hope for our peoples from the ashes of wars. Europe: a continent, a people, a government and a parliament. Certainly not only respecting identities, but valuing different cultures and the dignity of every human person.
The challenges we face (work, inequalities, young people, the birth rate...) are certainly national, but the answers can only be community-based.

Thanks to David Sassoli, the unforgettable president of the European Parliament, we understood that if Europe is not a simple accident of history, then it is also up to us to decide which Europe we wish to build. And we must make those who are running for office understand that a vote of confidence in the person is not enough for us, nor even what the mass media tells us (unfortunately always very partial), but we want to understand and delve deeper into what is being attempted in the logic of a Europe anchored to solidarity, diversity, rule of law, democracy and social justice with a strong call to intergenerational solidarity.

Gianfranco Cattai
NP March 2024