The European Commission and the European Parliament nominated the Italian island of Ventotene the historical capital of the moral and intellectual construction of European values in a ceremony on Sunday (28 August) held amid a seminar on European federalism.
“Ventotene has been the lighthouse showing the way for European integration. This is why I proposed with Salvatore de Meo that the European Parliament recognises this fundamental contribution by declaring it Europe’s moral capital” Domenec Ruiz Devesa, a Spanish socialist EU lawmaker who participated in the ceremony, told EURACITV.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the island of Ventotene was used as a site of imprisonment for political dissidents under fascism.
In early 1940s, during a period of confinement on the island, three men – Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi and Eugenio Colorni – produced the so-called Ventotene Manifesto, one of the texts widely considered to be a founding document of the European Union.
MEPs approved a report last April which underlined the significant role of the Manifesto in the creation of the EU.
The report refers to the Ventotene seminar founded by Spinelli in 1982 as a key part of implementing European citizens’ education.
For the subsequent four decades, young people from across the globe, together with MEPs and politicians of various backgrounds, have gathered at the island each year to participate in lectures and discussions on European federalism.
The seminars have attracted high-profile guests. In 2021, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell and Italian president Sergio Mattarella participated in the event.
The small island of Santo Stefano, which neighbours Ventotene, has also been gaining recognition in recent years.
The MEPs’ report stressed “the symbolic importance of the works to reclaim the Carcere di Santo Stefano and its potential to become a centre of reference for permanent cultural exchange, public events, exhibitions and debate”.
[Edited by Alice Taylor/Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
