President Sergio Mattarella underlined this while speaking at the Command of the "Palidoro" Carabinieri Mobile and Specialized Units for a NATO Conference. Mattarella: "There can be no separation between the security of the northern flank and the Security of the southern flank of the Alliance" The European Union is also called to raise the level of its commitment, and to do so urgently, he added.
"In Helsinki twenty-five years ago it seemed that this objective was within reach. Its dissolution in recent years has repeatedly made the Union a mere spectator of events whose negative effects it suffered", said Mattarella. "The deficit of the progressive lack of attention to the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern area must be filled", he said, adding that NATO has never betrayed its commitment to guaranteeing the benefit of the 32 countries that are part of it: united in the defense of freedom and democracy, which confirms the importance of multilateralism Republic. "Removing this condition - despite large financial commitments - would benefit everyone", he concluded.