EUROPE OF STATES OR EUROPE OF REGIONS?
Francesco Acquaroli, President of the Marche Region; Sergio Emidio Bini, Councillor for Productive Activities and Tourism Friuli Venezia Giulia Region; Donatella Tesei, President of the Umbria Region; Mario Tonina, Vice President of the Autonomous Province of Trento. Moderated by Andrea Simoncini, Vice President of the Fondazione Meeting per l’amicizia fra i popoli ETS, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Florence.
For over forty years, the Meeting in Rimini has been inspired by two values considered essential: Europeanism and regionalism. On one hand, regions and Europe represent the two directions of growth and development in our Republic. On the other hand, these two tensions – supranationality and regionalism – are not antithetical, but just like the fundamental relationships of growth in a person, they represent the fundamental relationships of growth. Both of these directions seem to be under discussion today – as seen, for example, in the two proposed constitutional reforms currently being discussed: one aimed at restoring national sovereignty against European sovereignty, and the other introducing the so-called “differentiated regionalism.” What is the future, then, of “regionalism” in the European perspective? To address this topic, several presidents of regions and the Autonomous Province of Trento are convening in Rimini, as a regular summer appointment, to revitalize the experience of regional governance, called upon by the Meeting to measure themselves against the broader horizon of European integration.