Pro-EU square in Bologna. Prodi: the USA is no longer the world's largest democracy. Police-antagonists tensions
Prodi emphasises the urgency of a united Europe on the move, while the mayors of Bologna and Florence promote youth participation
3' min read
3' min read
The square for Europe organised by Matteo Lepore, mayor of Bologna, and Sara Funaro, mayor of Florence, kicks off in Bologna with the hymn to Joy. This was followed by the speech of Romano Prodi. "We need Europe and that is why I am with you. The world is changing and even what used to be called the greatest democracy on the planet is no longer democracy. Only we Europeans have the difficult but strong sense of democracy. But now we have to be in a hurry because the world is changing so fast and we are going slowly. We almost have a sense of weariness,' says the former President of the Council and European Commission in a video link. 'The spirit of Ventotene,' Prodi adds, 'is not that of tiredness, but that of understanding the future, of moving forward even in very difficult times. Think in '41 what Italy was and what new things were in the heads of those who wrote the manifesto. Here, today we are also trying to understand the future and run towards the future, because there is a hurry and there is no more time'.
Clashes between social centres and police in the other demonstration
Clashes between police and demonstrators occurred in the centre of Bologna on the occasion of the two planned demonstrations: that of the mayors of Bologna and Florence pro-Europe and that of Potere al Popolo and social centres against rearmament. The participants in the latter moved from Piazza San Francesco with the aim of reaching Piazza del Nettuno, where that of the mayors was in progress. In via Ugo Bassi, after a long confrontation, the demonstrators were repelled by the police forces with shields and a few batons.
Uniting Europe against military invasion
."We are for common defence, we are against the rearmament of European states, but this does not mean that we should not work politically to unite Europe, because in any case those who have advanced in recent years, even with a military invasion of Ukraine, those who have also occupied the media through nationalist and extremist propaganda, have done so precisely because Europe was divided". So said the mayor of Bologna Matteo Lepore, on the sidelines of the event 'A square for Europe', organised in the city together with the mayor of Florence Sara Funaro.
Liberal Democracy and Listening to the Squares
"The time has come for the centre-right to get used to street demonstrations because I hear too much nervousness, we should be much happier that mayors, mayoresses, citizens freely go to the streets to express their opinion. Instead I see too many complaints, too many denunciations. This worries me a little because a healthy liberal democracy listens to what comes from the squares'. This was said by the mayor of Bologna Matteo Lepore, responding in this way to the criticism arrived from Fratelli d'Italia at the demonstration for Europe organised by the municipalities of Bologna and Florence
The aim is to reach out to young people
.'Our goal is to bring young people closer'. This was said by the mayor of Florence, Sara Funaro, on the sidelines of the event 'Una Piazza Per l'Europa' (A Square For Europe) being held in Bologna. 'It is no coincidence that we decided to make the square together. Both Florence and Bologna could not be in the square in Rome, when there was the big demonstration" for Europe "because we had had some major problems, with weather events that had hit our territories and we decided to take to the streets today to make the voice of our citizens heard and above all to bring the young people there".
