President Sergio Mattarella again
condemned the war Russia has waged on its neighbour Ukraine on
Monday, blasting it as "deplorable".
"A deplorable war, which the Russian Federation waged after
unacceptably claiming the right to aggression, every day leaves
a trail of death, destruction and hatred that pollutes every
field of civil activity and relations," Mattarella said during a
meeting with recipients of the 'knight of labour' honour.
"Peace is urgent and necessary.
"The path to build it stems from a re-establishment of the
truth, of international law, of the freedom of the Ukrainian
people".
The head of State said that Europe was "a target of this war".
"The principles of civilization, the values affirmed as the
response of the (European) peoples to the barbarism of the
Second World War and the dictatorships that provoked it, have
been challenged," he said.
"This is part of the reason why Europe is duty-bond to give a
united, coherent response".
Mattarella also called for a response at the EU-level to the
energy-price crisis triggered by the war.
"The reasoning of the energy market seem to create obstacles,
but the responsibility of the institutions is precisely that of
removing them," he said.
"Only the European Union has the strength to do this,
intervening in the price mechanisms, in the out-of-proportion
increases, in the unacceptable speculation that harms citizens".
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