Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in a speech before the German parliament on Sunday, called for stronger multilateral structures to prevent new wars.
His address came during a ceremony commemorating victims of war, with flags flown at half-mast at the Reichstag building in Berlin.
"Multilateralism is not bureaucracy, as autocratic rulers claim," he told the memorial service during the national day of mourning, or Volkstrauertag. "It is the tool that defuses conflicts and makes peaceful solutions possible. It is the language of shared responsibility."
Mattarella pointed to the great work of European unification.
"We have succeeded in creating a region of peace, freedom, prosperity and respect for human rights that is unparalleled in history," he said.
The European Union, which emerged from the ruins of war, has been able to put multilateralism at the service of peace, said the Italian president. "Let us not allow the European dream, our union, to be torn apart today by imitators of dark times. Of times that left behind suffering, misery and despair."
The "never again" response to the Holocaust is now being countered by an "again," he warned. "This is what we are experiencing right now: war again, racism again, great inequality again, violence again, aggression again."
Mattarella, who is on a two-day visit to Germany, was received by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Saturday.
Ahead of the ceremony, the president of the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, Julia Klöckner said commemoration must mean more than simply remembering.
"Those who honour the victims of war and violence, those who know where hatred and blindness lead, must not remain silent when peace and democracy are threatened anywhere in the world," said Klöckner.
She called the day of mourning "a loud warning to us today, at a time of growing historical distance from the horrors of the two world wars and the simultaneous reality of war – and, unfortunately, a certain normality of war in Europe."
After Mattarella's speech, Steinmeier is to deliver the traditional memorial service, which has been given by the incumbent German president since 1952.
The service text commemorates victims of violence and war worldwide, including those killed in the two world wars and people persecuted by Nazi Germany due to their nationality, ethnicity or disability.
For the first time this year, Steinmeier's speech also explicitly mentions those persecuted due to their gender or sexual identity, as well as police officers killed in service.
German military chief: War and violence must be stopped
In a wreath-laying ceremony at the Defence Ministry in Berlin, the chief of Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, said the day of mourning is a reminder that "war and violence must be prevented by all-means."
General Inspector Carsten Breuer also remembered the Bundeswehr soldiers who lost their lives in service.
The day of mourning serves to remind us "never to forget that this service to our country can cost lives," he added.
- Italian President
- Multilateralism
- New wars
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
