The road to the future
Editorial 26 January 2015Maybe we will not remember a lot regarding the Italian Presidency semester in the European Council, but we will never forget what happened in its final hours.
Wednesday, January 7th is already an historic date: in Paris, terrorists attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, causing 12 victims. A multiple shot to the heart of Europe, that bears new challenges for the future: European leaders have no choice other than to carry forward together a common geopolitical strategy.
Someone argued that the right answer should be closing the Schengen area, and bringing back the boundaries between people and goods standing till the early 90s. But reversing the process of inclusion, pluralism and democracy supported by Europe since its early days, would mark nothing else than the final victory for radicalism and terror.
This way, the brand new Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker and the High Representative Federica Mogherini are called to fiercely insist so that the European voice could be heard and respected. The massacre has also been an attack to freedom of press and expression: something which Europe must steadily reaffirm as not negotiable.
Europe is now at a turning point: either it rediscovers the will to act as one government and one people, or it is condemned to even more irrelevance, caught in the grips of radicalism and fear.
Francesco Maltoni
Legal editorial team – Gruppo Maggioli
twitter.com/franzmaltoni
