Seventy year of peace, after having triggered two world wars. That would be enough to say on the account of the most successfull achievements of this Union, that is yet to be completed. But to newer generations that haven’t experienced the magnitude of those conflicts it seems it’s not a compelling reason to remain in this common house we call Europe.
We could list all the economical benefits that being part of the community gives to its citizens such as air pollution common policies, the end of roaming charges for communications, free movements of people and goods in the richest market of the world with the highest security control on the products, but is not what we do. The evidences have already been provided by economic analysts. We want to stress your history, your vision, your future, that is also our future.

We are the Mazzinians, ideal heirs of the “apostle of modern democracy” that your great country harboured in a time where being a defensor of the liberty and a prophet of democracy cost you your life. Giuseppe Mazzini spent half his life exiled, living in London, using the pen as a weapon, inspiring many of the best intellectual minds of his generation and fighting to assert not just an Italian national consciousness, but an European one!

So why does the opinion of a XIX century revolutionary still matter?

It matters because he was right, although in his life he endured many political defeats his heritage lived on. In 1834 he founded in Bern Giovine Europa, whose aim was to free all the European people from the absolutistic yoke and create an European Federation built on brotherhood. His ideals of liberty and fraternity are the cornerstone of our present Union. United Kingdom was the first liberal country in modern times that nourished those ideals and gave shelter to many ambassadors of this just cause like Mazzini.

United Kingdom has always been a proud country with its interests historically divided between the continent and the sea, with a tendency of conceiving itself not being part of the Continent, but the truth is that you are. You fought twice on the right side for a free Europe and we still owe you that. We all are parts of this little west promontory of Asia that yet is the biggest economy of the world and temple of the culture that shaped the world. If we want to count, united we can. A great man, the victor of Word War II once said “‘We cannot aim at anything less than the Union of Europe as a whole, and we look forward with confidence to the day when that Union will be achieved.”. Wiston Churchill said this.

In a world of great new powers, with values not necessarly close to ours, we cannot undo what we built so far, divided we are weak, united there are no challenges we shall fear. Yes, the present European Istitutions are not yet fully democratic and an increased representativeness is needed. Within the Union those are our common quests. Mistakes have been made, this is not the best result we could get, but nothing is settled, there is work to do.
We do need your help, choose Europe, not the sea.

Your brothers and sisters citizens of Italy.

Giovine Europa- Rete Italia.
Associazione Mazziniana Italiana.