"The history - and current affairs - of newspapers and local publishing is a vital part of that democratic fabric that has allowed our country to progress in well-being and rights". This was stated by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the newspaper Alto Adige. As the president reiterates in the greeting, published today by the newspaper, "the essential principle of freedom, sanctioned by article 21 of the Constitution, finds its necessary implementation precisely in the wealth that derives from diversity and multiplicity".
"South Tyrol-South Tirol, born on the initiative of those who had fought for the liberation from Nazifascism, found itself in its life to guard another constitutional foundation: the protection of minorities, solemnly affirmed by article 6. The events of these decades have not spared us moments of difficulty, long gone, but we can well say that Italy, in the path that started from the Degasperi-Gruber agreement, has become a model of integration and coexistence for the whole of Europe ", Mattarella continues.
"The European Union - reiterates the president - has had the significant inspiration to define itself as a 'union of minorities'. In this process, South Tyrol and Trentino have played a positive role, of dialogue, of effective construction of a modern community and open. Every day they were able to describe and give voice to social, civil and economic forces, to citizens who worked for development and for its better quality, "says Mattarella.
