Authorities of Moldovan Institutions,
Excellencies and Representatives of the Diplomatic Corps,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This year we are celebrating our National Day in advance because June 2 falls on a Sunday.
On June 2, 1946, through a historic referendum, between Monarchy and Republic the Italian people chose the Republic. They decided to look with confidence to the future instead of the past.
Twenty-two years earlier, in 1924, the great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels, the city that would later host the European and Atlantic Institutions. The concert to be performed by the Serghei Lunchevici Philharmonic, masterfully conducted by Maestro Agafita, is dedicated to him.
In 1924, Europe had emerged from a terrible First World War and, in the absence of a common peace project, was already heading towards a second even more devastating one.
After those two collective suicides, six European nations, including Italy, in order to avoid the mistakes and horrors of the past, decided to pool resources and have common institutions to manage them. In building this marvelous process of peace, prosperity, freedom and democracy, in which the European Union is embodied today, a decisive factor was not only the will of the Europeans, but also the political and financial support assured with foresight, on the other side of the Atlantic, by the United States of America.
The six nations that signed the Treaties of Rome in 1957 have over the years become twenty-seven, and the enlargement process continues. Since the European integration process began, wars in Europe have continued and continue to affect only those left out, exposed to external and internal security risks. First came the turn of the Western Balkans. Then that of Ukraine, the victim of an unprovoked armed invasion. Right now in Ukraine, across Moldova's eastern border, there are people suffering and dying.
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In Europe, two enlargement processes are currently underway. One, that of the European Union, based on peace and consensus of states and peoples. The other, of which Ukraine is the main but not the only victim, based on war and intimidation of States and peoples. An intimidation pursued in some Nations, including Moldova, not with weapons, but with disinformation, illicit party funding and hybrid threats of all sorts.
We live in a moment in history when choices need to be made, important decisions about our own future and that of our children, decisions such as the one that, on October 20 of this year, through a referendum, will be put back to the Moldovan people. Through the referendum of June 2, 1946, which we celebrate today, as I have already said, the Italians chose to look confidently toward the future. It was on the basis laid by that choice that the Italian people gave confidence to Alcide De Gasperi, one of the founding fathers of the European integration process.
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The Italian Republic and the Italian people strongly support the aspiration of the Republic of Moldova to join the European Union. We hope that the Moldovan people will be able to quickly board the train of freedom, peace, rule of law and well-being. We want to travel on this train together, side by side, towards a better future for all. A future that, if Moldova continues along the path it has taken with courage and determination, will soon be within reach.
The strong bond between Rome and Chisinau, European Capitals of two Peace-loving sister Nations, pushes in that direction. Consolidating this bond day by day is, first and foremost, the Moldovan Diaspora in Italy. An exemplary model of integration, the Diaspora has been over the decades and is, to this day, one of the main conveyor belts of the common values of the great European family.
Many Italians, given the cultural affinity and common linguistic roots that bind us, have also chosen to come and live in Moldova. My compatriots are more and more. They have created beautiful Italian-Moldovan families here and invested their capital. It is no coincidence that, net of course of the movements between the two sides of the Prut, they constitute in Moldova the largest expatriate community of an EU member state. We are very similar and we are good together. We like the same things. That is also why Italy is the second largest country in terms of the number of foreign-owned companies registered in Moldova. The third in terms of investment volume.
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The ties and cooperation between representatives of the Institutions in Rome and Chisinau are no less close than those that unite the two peoples who democratically chose them.
Since President Maia Sandu's visit to Rome in June 2021, relations between Italy and Moldova have begun to record unprecedented levels of cooperation. In the past three years, material and financial contributions from the Italian government to the Moldovan government, to meet and overcome refugee and energy challenges, have risen from zero to approximately forty-five million euros. In the past twelve months, from President Meloni's participation in the European Political Community Summit held in Chisinau to the present, bilateral relations have become even more intense and fruitful.
The Joint Declaration on the Italian-Moldovan Strategic Partnership signed in Rome by the two Deputy Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers Tajani and Popescu in September 2023 was followed by visits to Italy by the Moldovan Ministers of Defense, Justice, Labor, and Agriculture.
I am also thinking of the visit to Rome by Parliament Speaker Grosu to the Presidents of the House and Senate, as well as the multiple visits of Italian parliamentarians to Chisinau, including House and Senate Foreign Committee Chairmen Craxi and Tremonti. At the Europe Day parliamentary session on May 9, the Italian parliamentary delegation was the largest. In recent days, at the invitation of the President of the Moldovan Constitutional Court, the Vice President of the Italian Constitutional Court was present here.
Just this morning, Italian Customs International Relations Director Mazzella signed with Moldovan Customs Director Doaga a Letter of Intent that will facilitate the application of the new Moldovan Customs Code in trade relations not only with Italy, but with all EU member states.
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Cooperation activities are intense and continuous. Among the many visual memories of the past twelve months that I cherish in my heart, I recall the long bipartisan applause to President Grosu of the Italian Parliament; Minister Bolea's participation in Vinitaly; the signing with UNDP Representative Daniela Gasparikova of the Technical Understanding on Energy Support to Moldova in the presence of Prime Minister Dorin Recean and Ministers Parlicov and Buzu; the first Italian cuisine event in Gagauzia in the framework of the Moldova Youth Forum organized in collaboration with IRI Director Lisek; the inauguration of UNHCR and UNICEF projects co-funded by Italy together with Resident Representatives Bonelli and Damaj; the awarding of Moldovan girls and boys together with Minister Perciun at the Don Bosco Center in Chisinau; the departure ceremony for Kosovo, in the presence of Minister Efros, of the first Moldovan Carabinieri deployed abroad with robust police duties together with the Italian Carabinieri; the delivery of Italian-funded materials to the Moldovan Border Police together with IOM Resident Representative Lonnback; the departure ceremonies, in the presence of Minister Nosatii, of Moldovan military personnel deployed in KFOR and UNIFIL who, together with their Italian colleagues, are helping to maintain international peace and security in the Middle East and the Balkans, with excellent results, in compliance with NATO operational standards.
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Allow me, in closing, to express three special thanks.
The first to the President and Secretary General of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Moldova, Radaelli and Pelizzari, as well as to the Secretary General of the Italian-Moldovan Chamber, Pripa, for their support of business.
The second, for their professionalism and dedication, to all the Italian language professors at the Ion Creanga University, the State University of Moldova and the Dante Alighieri, Blaga and Berezovschi high schools, in which Italian is studied as first foreign language from first grade to high school graduation.
The third to all Embassy staff. Without their constant support, the Embassy would not have been able to carry out its tasks and, today, we would not be here to celebrate.
Finally, thank you to everyone here for being here with us. Long live the Italian Republic, Long live the Republic of Moldova!
