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EU bets on a 'revival', 60 yrs after Rome Treaties

Meeting attended by 120 heads of state, government, ministers

18 March, 18:35
(ANSA) - ROME, MAR. 18 - March 25 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, the founding moment of the European Union. On this occasion 120 personalities including heads of state, government ministers and representatives of the European institutions will gather in the Italian capital. On the same day, six decades ago, the representatives of Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the two treaties which established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).

It was the first nucleus of what was going to become the European Union. Italy's public Tv Rai reported that the prime minister Paolo Gentiloni at the Rome Summit will underline the four priorities for the next decade of the EU: defense and security in the management of migrant flows, growth, sustainable development and employment, Europe of social welfare, but also a Europe that has a key role in world trade and market.

According to Gentiloni, the anniversary of the Treaties of Rome will also be an opportunity to ''highlight the significance that Europe has had in the last 60 years in terms of peace, and this is something we have to be proud of, because of what Europe represents around the world''.

The official celebrations began in the capital on March 17, with a conference of presidents of the parliaments of EU member states, who participated in a meeting that took place in the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Senate.

On March 25, there will be protests of those who are calling for a different approach to the European structure, as well as the anti-European movements. For this reason, the Italian capital will be under heavy security. The European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said: ''Today the citizens' trust in the European institutions appears to be rapidly deteriorating, therefore the anniversary of the Treaties may be an opportunity to re-launch a ideal and political Europe, not only bureaucratic''.

The president of the Chamber of Deputies Laura Boldrini said in an interview with Corriere della Sera that the anniversary of the Treaties of Rome will be ''a moment of frank discussion and an opportunity to explain to the citizens - especially young people - the benefits that the EU has brought. But also a time to figure out how to move forward, somebody's inactivity runs the risk of becoming a total paralysis of the Union''. (ANSA).

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