YouSaid · the spoken record

Matteo Renzi

lines on the record: 53
first: 2014-09-24
most recent: 2016-09-24
sittings or episodes: 3
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“That is why Italy accepts the challenge launched today by the President of the United States to the General Assembly by stating that we will always be on the side of democracy, freedom, values and ideals, with the determination that flows from those who have a great dream and a great vision, but also at the same time the deep desire to make politics into a noble and concrete activity, by intervening without leaving the responsibility for follow-up to others and by fully embracing the deeper meaning of the challenge that we, for our part, call humanity.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“It is the sea where today hundreds and thousands of people seek refuge as they flee from war, from hunger and from poverty. The responsibility for that part of the world has become our ever-growing burden. In comparison, while we can say that progress has been made in Libya since last year, too little has been accomplished by the international community, particularly Europe, in transforming the Mediterranean Sea into a place where we meet the challenge of dignity. If we do not prioritize the values of humanity and pietas in that geographic area, in that corner of the world, we will have betrayed our tradition.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“They include our women and men in diplomacy and politics, and the women and men who serve our country by wearing a uniform in Afghanistan and in Somalia, by protecting the Mosul Dam in an area fundamental to the future of our planet, and by serving in the Balkans as well, in particular in Serbia. They are security professionals with additional features, namely, the priority they place on humanity. The women and men who make us proud to be a part of the Italian heritage know that we have not originated from nothing, but rather from the tradition to which I have referred, one that finds its highest expression represented by the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean is the sea that the Romans called Mare Nostrum — our sea.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“At the same time, we are convinced that the challenge facing the Security Council, the challenge facing Europe and the challenge facing the G-7 share the same root, based on the same blueprint. It is our duty as Italians to bring our voice and our contribution to the United Nations in seeking and identifying ancient values with a new inflection. Today, the pietas of Aeneas has become an opportunity to build a new world based on hope and not on resentment, hatred or anger. Our people, our men and women, continue to work to serve the ideals of peace.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“We are very proud that the Italian Government has adopted a law, with the support of representatives of Parliament, that stipulates that for every euro invested in security, policing, cybertechnology and cybersecurity, one euro must be invested in culture, education, recreation, preschool education, theatres and other venues that nurture the spirit and the soul, because that is another way to fight the crisis of our era. We will ensure that the meeting of the G-7 serves as an important occasion to reflect on the values of identity and culture, as well as the challenge of food in the double sense of the fight against poverty and starvation, on the one hand, and the value of food security and health awareness, on the other.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“Italy will lead the work of the Group of Seven (G- 7), which will meet at a splendid site in Sicily — that land of great culture and great values — by the Greek theatre in Taormina, facing Mount Etna with the Mediterranean Sea before it bathing the shores of that extraordinary region. The agenda will focus on the actions that we have been discussing today: increasing our contributions to development cooperation and investments in education. For we must not forget that, if the terrorist problem has its origins in theatres of war, there is also a terrorist problem originating in the abandoned outskirts of our cities, and the only weapon that can counter such terrorism is an enormous investment in education and human capital.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“It will participate in the Council, which will see a new Secretary-General, with the assumption of responsibility and the conviction that the Sustainable Development Goals, the challenges associated with environmental and technological sustainability and the building of an ever-stronger community will reflect the values that have made our history great. In 2017 Italy will participate in the life of the international community by hosting, on 25 March, the States members of the European Union for the sixtieth anniversary of the signing of the European Treaty, with the goal of making of Europe not merely an evocation of history but rather a new chapter in a book to be written with increased ideals, dreams, horizons and vision, not with a tiring and repetitive day-by-day listing of bureaucratic rules and decisions.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“But Aeneas is the man who, in the foundation myth, is the bearer of pietas, the sense of profound respect, halfway between the religious value and the profound sense of cultural identity that makes a community worthy of being called a community. Without pietas, without compassion for others, there is no room for community. And this is why, to my mind, it is essential that we tackle the challenge launched this morning from this rostrum by Barack Obama with the great value of pietas and the building of communities to which the myth of Aeneas refers. This is how Italy will tackle the challenges of 2017: by participating in the Security Council, a responsibility that it will share with the Netherlands.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“Yet I would like to propose a different, even provocative image. The image of Rome that I would like to propose is that of Aeneas. Aeneas is the man of the journey. Mythology is filled with examples of people who set out on journeys. Some set out on a journey to return home, like Odysseus. And some, like Aeneas, chose to journey to create a new city, a new civilization. Aeneas sets out on a journey carrying on his shoulders his ailing father. It is a sign of a generation that is not afraid to assume its responsibilities and that believes that the experience of the elderly is still an absolute value and will go so far as to bear on its shoulders the added burden of history. Aeneas is the man who ensures for his son, Ascanius, the possibility of going on to live and to found the great history of Rome.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“It would be nice, of course, to share with the Assembly the words of hope and also of pride that characterize the concrete acts of saving hundreds of thousands of human lives from the Mediterranean — lives otherwise condemned by desperation — by the Italian women and men wearing the uniform of the Navy or the Coast Guard. It would be nice to bring to each member of the General Assembly the pride and the voice of the Italians who work in the fields of culture, education and research; of Italians who, together with other Europeans, are leading the European mission that in a few weeks will see for the first time a European spacecraft land on Mars, on 19 October, in exactly one month — a sign of the research that is making Europe not only a place of technocrats and bureaucrats, but also a place looking toward the future.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“These problems have a face: it is the face of Omran, the Syrian boy, shell-shocked, covered in blood, looking with his big eyes not so much at the photographer’s lens as at the hearts of each one of us; it is the eyes of Nadia, the Yazidi girl whom I met yesterday, who escaped from the violence of Da’esh and is today a courageous witness in a battle on behalf of human rights, of women’s rights, of freedom. They are challenges and threats for which borders no longer exist. They are in the hearts of our cities and sometimes on the outskirts of European cities, which have often forgotten the true sense of threats inside our borders rather than outside them. Every reference to what happened between Paris and Brussels is deliberate. I therefore wondered, in conveying the greetings of Italy, which voice from Rome I should bring to those issues.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“But there are also risks linked with other events that combine to make the future seem more a time of concern than of hope, from risks connected to natural disasters — one of which Italy experienced a few weeks ago in Amatrice, Cumuli and Arquata — to the great questions concerning migration and the worries that that phenomenon instils in the hearts of people, the questions it raises and the difficulties it presents. The future has therefore become more and more a place of doubt, of fear. Yet we need to choose the road of hope, the road of possibility, the road of opportunity. The problems are not in fact theoretical problems that need to be tackled by an assembly of experts.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“Terrorism no longer strikes only conventional targets, but rather the human dimension: a theatre, a restaurant, a museum, a stadium. Also pressing are the risks connected with pandemics, which are sometimes exaggerated but very often constitute grave risks, as well as the risks connected to the environment, to which this community of women and men, together with my colleagues, was able to give a response by signing the important Paris Agreement on Climate Change this past April.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“As we approach the close of this day, I feel the responsibility to refer from this rostrum to the statement addressed to all of us by the President of the United States, Barack Obama (see A/71/PV.8). In summarizing the past eight years of his presidency and his relationship with the United Nations, he highlighted how the international context today is riven by a deep division between the world of fear and the world of courage, between the world of resentment and the world of hope, and between anger and opportunity. A new season is therefore beginning, one filled with opportunities and possibilities, but also with unprecedented threats and difficulties that, until a short while ago, had seemed in all likelihood to be very remote. Foremost among them is the threat of terrorism to our cities, to everyday life.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)
“Their heroic actions should serve as an admonishment for all of us. Politics can be restored to dignity when we are aware of the enormity of our challenges. The old Europe, born in the name of courage, does not give in to fear. Italy will proudly do its part.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“We must bear that image in mind and commit to doing our best. Many children have died in the heart of the Mediterranean. They died on the ships launched in the direction of Europe by traffickers, the new slave traders of today. However, together with all of those children who are no longer with us, I want to recall the names of children whom no one talks about: Yambambi, 50/51 15-29431 29/09/2015 A/70/PV.16 Salvatore, Idris Ibrahim and Francesca Marina. They are some of the children who were born on the ships of the Italian Marines and Coast Guard, which saved thousands of women, and in some cases enabled them to give birth on those ships. I wish to thank my fellow citizens for the extraordinary work that they have carried out. I want their names to be remembered with the names of those who did not make it.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“I do not want us to forget that what brings us here is not a document. It is a face; it is many faces. In Italian schools, our children learn about the strong connection among the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East. Today, those children are not just extras in a movie. They are the reason why we are here today. We believe that of all the values we teach our children at school we cannot forget that the first value is life. Faced with the migration crisis, many of us were deeply moved this summer by the photo of a little boy named Aylan. He was a child from Kobani, who, together with his older brother, fell asleep without ever being able to see the future. He was photographed, dead, on the beach at Bodrum. We must not limit our commitment to the emotion of the moment.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“In the next few weeks in Milan, we will welcome our partners, the small island developing States, which are considered small States but are actually great States for their value, to the events on climate-change adaptation that will take place in mid-October at Expo Milan, and we will bring a large delegation to Venice, where we will show participants, in one of the most beautiful artistic cities in the world, how we are working to combat the risks associated with the presence of high waters and the lack of attention on the part of the international community. In conclusion, as a candidate for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, Italy wants the values we have discussed to occupy a central place in the Security Council. But I do not want us to think of those values in an abstract way.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (resolution 70/1), Italy has accepted the challenge of the five Ps — people, prosperity, partnership, planet and peace, which we recognize and which inspire our action for the future. But let me say that Italy intends to contribute with strength, in particular in those battles in which some countries seem to be alone.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“I wish to make a commitment, especially to the African countries, that we will never stop working in that direction, bolstered by Italian know-how and the desire to work together. Guaranteeing access to food for all, fighting world hunger, changing consumption patterns, ensuring the centrality of women as central stakeholders in agriculture, defending smallholder farmers, as well as easing tensions and conflicts caused by the degradation of arable land and the scarcity of water for irrigation, are not secondary issues. The legacy of Expo Milan is assured by the Charter of Milan and by the commitments of each of us to fight climate change. Italy stands alongside Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and is mobilizing the necessary resources to ensure that the conferences in Lima and Paris are successful.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“I also recall the words that the Holy Father Pope Francis pronounced here (see A/70/PV.3) and at the United States Congress. The resolutions against forced and early marriage (resolution 68/148) and against female genital mutilation (resolution 67/146) are clear signs of the shared commitment of our world community. The deep connection between peace and security and between human rights and development is also the message of the current Universal Exposition in Milan. The slogan of Expo 2015, “Feeding the Planet: Energy for Life”, is a message that brings together many of the aspirations of the General Assembly, in particular that of promoting sustainable agriculture.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“I wish to recall Italy’s commitment to honouring the women and men who have sacrificed their lives for our collective security, in particular in that country. We are proud of the work of our soldiers and civilians aimed at supporting the Afghan Government on the road to peace and prosperity. The Security Council is at the centre of the challenge. That is not a bureaucratic issue, but rather a political one. The Uniting for Consensus group is ready to continue to work with all members. Human rights, which are today under attack, are for us a reference point at every level. I am thinking about Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), on women and peace and security. I am thinking of resolution 69/186, adopted by the General Assembly last December, with its moratorium on the death penalty, an issue on which we will tirelessly work.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“Let us not forget that what has happened in recent months and weeks — from Charlie Hebdo in Paris to what took place in Belgium and in Denmark — involved women and men born in European countries, raised and educated in European countries and yet transformed into terrorists who sought to undermine human rights and the very raison d’être of our continent. I think, therefore, that it is important that we all succeed in this educational challenge together and that our peacekeeping model, 15-29431 49/51 A/70/PV.16 29/09/2015 which President Obama noted yesterday and for which we thank him, can serve as an established model that can be in deployed in various countries, such as is happening now in Afghanistan.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“That is why, together with our partner countries and friends, we aspire to be the guardians of culture throughout the world, carrying out concrete actions, both here in New York and at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, through United4Heritage, the Blue Helmets of culture. On the basis of a model developed in our country, we are proposing the establishment of an international task force, with military and civilian members, for operations to protect and rebuild art historical sites. That is our identity. That task force will be available to UNESCO, and it could be deployed in the framework of United Nations peacekeeping operations. Let us not forget that even Europe runs the risk, in the absence of a major educational project that would show that the evil seed of terrorism is growing on European soil as well.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“There are many reasons for our role in the fight against terrorism. It is a battle for values, a battle for culture. The terrorists want us to die. Failing that, they want us to live under their rules. That is why the battle that we are waging is a battle against darkness and fear, because fear is the playground of terrorism. The first area in which we see that is that of culture. When terrorists attack Palmyra or the Bardo Museum in Tunisia, or a school or a university, from Asia to Africa, they are not attacking the past, they are targeting our future. Italy is the country where the culture of the conservation of cultural assets was born. Proud of our roots and of our Renaissance, we have the highest concentration of UNESCO cultural heritage sites in the world.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“At the same time, we underscore that Daesh is not limited to the specific region of the Middle East, even if there is an extraordinary mosaic of pluralism and beauty there. Daesh may reaffirm itself with strength in Africa, starting with Libya. From this rostrum, I renew my appeal to all the parties who hope for peace and a unified nation in Libya. We must unite our forces. Our Libyan brothers and sisters must know that they are not alone, that the General Assembly has not forgotten them. Italy is ready to collaborate with a national unity Government and to restore cooperation in key areas so as to give Libya back its future. If the new Libyan Government asks us, Italy is ready to take on the leadership role in a mechanism, authorized by the international community, to assist in the stabilization of the country.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“That will work only if we have the courage to stare reality in the face and acknowledge the presence of an enemy of unprecedented danger at our doors, namely, Daesh, the embodiment of extremism and terrorism. Through its Carabinieri corps, which plays an important role in Italy and the world, Italy is proud to lead the coalition for training the Iraqi police force. We know that the work of the security forces is decisive in ensuring daily security, enabling a family to return home without incident and enabling a mother to reassure her children. We will continue working with the global coalition to counter ISIL, in particular the United States and Saudi Arabia, and will maintain our leadership role in the working group to counter financing for Daesh.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“While we are committed to the implementation of that agreement, we also firmly reiterate the right of the people and the State of Israel to exist. Only through dialogue and negotiation will we be able to find a future for coming generations. Moreover, on the delicate question of Israel and Palestine, there is no alternative to dialogue. It is essential to return to the negotiating table, with the goal of reaching a solution based on two States living side-by-side in peace and security. This open debate of the General Assembly has been characterized by many discussions on Syria. All of us have acknowledged and felt, on a very personal level, the failure that years of inertia has produced. We believe that the only way out of that quagmire is through a political solution that leads to a process of genuine transition.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“That is why we decided to present our candidature to the Security Council for a non-permanent seat for 2017-2018, with the ideal in mind of building the peace 48/51 15-29431 29/09/2015 A/70/PV.16 of tomorrow. We believe that it is the job of each one of us here today to create an alternative to the culture of violence and nihilism exemplified by the recent crises in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Europe and at the borders of Europe. I am thinking, for example, of the consolidation of the ceasefire in Ukraine. I am thinking of the great joy with which we welcomed the news of the agreement between the United States and Cuba, one of extraordinary historic proportions. I am thinking of the hope that each of us now has as a consequence of the agreement with Iran on that country’s nuclear programme, which begins a new hopeful phase.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“In that vein, Italy has partnered with African countries through a broad array of initiatives, and in particular with the African Union, a cooperation about which I an the opportunity to speak recently at the third International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Addis Ababa, which produced the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. In the 70 years since the birth of the Charter of the United Nations in San Francisco, the Organization has learned how crucial its role is. It has had the wisdom to recognize its mistakes and the strength to correct them by writing a new chapter that will ensure a better future for all of our children. I think that it will take an effort on the part of everyone, and Italy will not shirk from its responsibilities.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“For those like me, who as a young man witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall and found in that event a reason to devote my life to public service, to see new walls going up today is intolerable. Europe was reborn to tear down walls, not to build them. That is why Italy is on the front line in rescuing thousands of migrants fleeing from war and despair. For that same reason, I had the privilege of accompanying Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on one of our ships currently participating in the rescue operations. Addressing migratory flows requires the capacity to respond to that emergency with a global and comprehensive strategy.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“The problem of migration is not one of organization or statistics. The problem is fear, the fear that runs through our societies and that we must take seriously if we wish to defeat it. In Greek mythology, Phobos was the god of fear, able to paralyse the best armies and cause the most easily fought battles to be lost. That is why the glorious and ancient city of Sparta built a great temple to Phobos and did everything to gain his favour. Europe was born to defeat fear and replace it with the ideal of courage, peace, cooperation and civilization. And for a long time, Europe embodied that ideal. Over the past 70 years, our continent has left behind centuries of war and civil war. Europe had become a true miracle.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“I think we should reject what has become a dictatorship of the moment, and take the time to pay homage to this Hall for its efforts in engaging in more meaningful reflection. I am thinking of my country, which, on a map, appears to be shaped like a bridge, a bridge connecting North and South, Europe and Africa and East and West, a bridge that spans from the Middle East to the Balkans. Because of its geography, and especially its culture, Italy has always been a kind of extraordinary cultural laboratory affected by influences of every kind. That is the reason that we were the first country in Europe to grasp the momentous dimension of what is happening in the Mediterranean region. From the very beginning — even in this Hall last year — we have said that the refugee question is not a question of numbers (see A/69/PV.9).”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“It is with gratitude and pride that I come here today to express the voice of the Italian people, a generous and responsible people, who every day have shown their commitment to saving the lives of hundreds of their brothers and sisters in the heart of the Mediterranean region. This Hall calls for profound thinking rather than slogans. In every part of the world, political life is more and more fixated on the present. It is tied to discussions shaped by 24/7 news stations, the Internet and social media. Let me be clear. I belong to a generation for whom social media represent an extraordinary tool, a horizon of freedom that allows us to change lives and prospects. There is nevertheless the risk of reducing that horizon to a discussion of the next opinion poll or tweet.”
2015-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 70 (2015)
“He also said, “We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours”. We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. We are living in a time of threats and problems. Yet what we can put into it is entirely ours. Within this frame of our destiny we can once again inspire others with the values of education, freedom and peace, so long as we are stay true to our history and hopeful for our future.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“I believe that it is crucial that all those challenges be seen as subsumed within the greatest challenge of them all, one in which we must all be on the front lines. There can be no peace, no freedom, no respect until the international community puts at the centre of its strategy a gigantic, grand investment into education, schools, universities, going from house to house, village to village, piazza to piazza. We say that the most powerful weapon in affirming the values of peace and freedom is the weapon of education, of culture, of human capital, of investment in people and in the stories and freedoms of individual women and men. That is why I believe that, while we are living in difficult times, we are also living in a time when we must, as former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld put it, say yes to the future.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“The year 2015 will also be an important one for the Expo in Milan and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, which we discussed two days ago, and for actions that remind us of the need for a turning point, such as in the debate over Security Council reform. We all believe that the Council must be made more effective, representative, transparent and accountable to the members of the international community. But opinions on how to achieve that goal still differ. In order to bring the various reform models closer together, the Uniting for Consensus group, to which my country belongs, continues to maintain that creating new permanent members would imperil that goal, and I reiterate our willingness to find compromise solutions.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“I would like to say that I am especially excited to be able to speak about that on behalf of Italy, which has always fought at both the governmental and the non-governmental levels to make that issue a priority. Earlier in my career, I was mayor of the city of Florence, which was the first place in history to abolish the death penalty. A herald descended the steps of the Palazzo Vecchio to announce that in that State, the Grand Duchy, the death penalty had been abolished. Let us not pile more barbarous acts on other ones. I ask every State to join us in this battle for civilization.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Every religious minority has the right to be defended. Never before have so many Christians been killed in regions around the world because of their faith, and never before has one of the genuine tragedies of our times been so badly underestimated. Within the international community it is especially vital that we forcefully affirm the values of equality, respect and tolerance, which are of special relevance for us in Italy when talking about the death penalty. That is why this new session of the General Assembly coincides with the presentation of a new draft resolution on abolishing capital punishment. I hope that the number of countries supporting it will continue to grow.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Problems to be solved include the challenge of achieving new global governance of the Internet, as the President of Brazil mentioned yesterday (see A/69/PV.6), and the challenge of finally making a major investment in gender equality, so that we no longer consider it newsworthy when a woman takes on a position of responsibility. I am very proud to say that for the first time in its history, women make up more than half of my Government. I am happy and pleased to say that we will never fall short in our commitment to leadership roles for women, but above all we will fight to ensure that young women can be free in developing countries and nations facing especially difficult situations. I cannot emphasize strongly enough that 2015 will be a very important year in the fight against religious discrimination.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We must seize this opportunity for the people of Ukraine and the international community. Dialogue and reconciliation are indispensable tools in the Sudan, Somalia and in the Central African region. They are the strong point of our community as it faces newly emerging difficulties, starting with the Ebola virus and its dramatic humanitarian, social and economic consequences. Italy is doing its part and will continue to do so, following the Secretary-General’s leadership and inspiration, whom I thank for his prompt action. But I should also emphasize that political solutions are the only way forward for the year 2015, although they are often marked by complex, difficult challenges.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“But the crisis in Ukraine has forced us to confront unexpected challenges. I believe that there is a connection between two fundamental principles — the right of the Ukrainian people to have the territorial unity of their country recognized in the face of acts of aggression that have violated its integrity, and at the same time, I hope that we can overcome the tensions with the Russian Federation, which will, I hope, return to playing its role as a global stakeholder so needed by the international community. A great expert in politics from the Italian Renaissance, Niccolò Macchiavelli, wrote, “To know how to recognize an opportunity in war and take is of greater benefit than anything else”. Macchiavelli’s words helps us understand in this moment that the Minsk Agreement is a great opportunity in the war under way in Ukraine.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“As I have said before and I repeat here, it is not only a right but a duty for Israel to exist — for the sake of history, memory, innovation, democracy, freedom, of which the Israeli people give constant proof. The entire international community must support that process. Those words must be clearly heard in this Hall, where someone once dared to call into question the very right of Israel to exist. It is dialogue and politics that can prevent a return to the dialectics of the cold war. We had thought that those times were behind us, but now the tensions on the eastern borders of Ukraine risk are jeopardizing the greatest achievement of the European integration process — a continent of peace and stability. Never before had there been such a long period of peace as the one we are experiencing today in Europe.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“I would take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to those women and men who, from Lebanon to Afghanistan, wear the uniform of our country to make a concrete commitment to ensuring stability and peace. But at the same time, I know, we know, that there will be no peace in the region until what a great prophet of Italian political thought, Giorgio La Pira, called the “peace of the children of Abraham” has brought an end to the unresolved conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. We will never tire of seeking peace for Jerusalem, and a ceasefire in Gaza will be consolidated and respected only if we all recognize the two-State solution and the right of the Palestinian people to finally have a homeland.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“A genocide is under way, and in the face of such activities, we know that only a unified international community can win this battle of civilization against evil. That is why I said yesterday to President Obama that the international coalition can count on Italy’s support to eliminate the threat posed by ISIL, and I continue to insist on the fact that the commitment of our country in every region and in every area of the region will be resolute and, I hope, decisive. Italy has contributed and will continue to contribute in Lebanon, through our soldiers and their commitment to supporting the United Nations peacekeeping mission deployed in the south of Lebanon.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“At the same time, we say forcefully that those of us who had the duty — or the good fortune, if I may speak provocatively — to visit a refugee camp, as I did in the second half of August in Erbil, Kurdistan, in Iraq, will realize that we cannot be unresponsive to the dismayed faces of so many victims of fanaticism. To see an international aid worker who shows you images on her cellphone of children who were executed, who were lined up against a wall and shot; to hear stories about young women taken to barracks in the centre of Mosul and forced, in silence and powerlessness, to satisfy all the desires of violent terrorists; to think of what is happening to journalists and hostages — requires us to say what must be said.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Another priority, especially for those today who are preparing for a discussion on the terrorist threat in the Middle East and elsewhere, is to be aware that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as was said yesterday with great force, is not just a terrorist threat to a specific region, but a risk for the entire community of men and women who would call themselves human. We are not dealing with a form of religious expression. Religions can both fuel the fires of a conflict and provide water to heal wounds. We believe that ISIL and the threat it represents are not connected in the slightest way with a conflict of religions.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We are committed not to underestimate a hot spot in the midst of the Mediterranean that could reach a point of no return in a spiral of violence and instability in the region. Italy will continue to do its part, but we must emphasize with decisiveness and intensity in this prestigious forum that the risk of a gradual fragmentation of Libya and the negative consequences that that would trigger for the entire North African region would be catastrophic for peace and stability in the entire region. We are committed to supporting a strong and stable Libya, and we will continue to work with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya through our embassy, which is still open, but we want to say with great determination that the situation in Libya must be a priority for all.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Thanks to that operation, I can stand before the Assembly and say that the men and women of the Italian Coast Guard and volunteer services have saved 80,000 human lives, 80,000 people who could become doctors, musicians, workers, 80,000 people who were pulled from the Mediterranean as if from a cemetery, thanks to an operation that we take pride in but that cannot be left only to Italy today. We need to say forcefully that intervention in the Mediterranean area is a strategic intervention for the international community that cannot only be left to a single force. In saying that, we need to add that the priority for that area today is Libya and our friends, the Libyan people, who are suffering through a time of transition that seems never to end.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Because of its central location, Italy has the will and the need to play a greater role in the Mediterranean. Italy, whose gift to the world is the image of the city and the public square — in the sense of an open gathering place for the community — cannot be silent when confronted with the transformation of the Mediterranean, which should be the heart of Europe and the public square for discussion and confrontation, but has all too often been transformed into a cemetery. I take the floor today one year after the Italian Government launched an important operation called Mare Nostrum.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)