(ANSA) - TRIESTE, OCTOBER 18 - "Europe will still make sense only if it is made of Regions and legislative assemblies." That is was the speaker of the FVG Regional Council, Piero Mauro Zanin, said on the sidelines of a forum organised by ANSA, with reference to his recent mission in Brussels. "One of the most important challenges - he added - is to take responsibility for the needs of our territories, such as local authorities, associations, trade unions and workforce, to intervene in the construction of laws. Thanks to their suggestions we can make norms more coherent to the needs of the citizens." The regional councils, Zanin underlined, "must bring to Europe the demands of our communities, recovering the federalism and autonomy that have made the FVG Region great, moving on the tracks of the project Alpe Adria, which in the 80s took on a major role in the community." According to Zanin, "the challenge is crucial to start building a different Europe, closer to citizens through a subsidiarity that can somehow give them a voice" in the EU "also through collaboration with neighbouring regions such as Slovenia, Carinthia and Bavaria". In other words, we need to "re-launch the ideals of federalism and autonomy, so that there is a relationship between the regional communities in neighboring countries that have a common vision and that can achieve a critical mass, such as Italy, Slovenia and Austria, using our own identities and communities". This means bringing "within Europe no longer a single state or parts of a state, but a community that is working and has always worked together and have a long tradition of collaboration in history". 

Talking about the accession process of the Western Balkans, Zanin said that "the Balkans are the true frontier area for Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, which can play an important role in Italian foreign policy precisely because of our numerous affinities and relationships with the peoples who live in that area .'' 

In Europe, Zanin noted, there is ''some contradiction''. Whereas on the one hand - he pointed out - in the ''Countries of Visegrad, sovereignism is growing'', on the other hand, ''there are countries like Macedonia that want to join the Union''. For this reason, Zanin added, ''a vision is needed: collaboration, sense of community and identity should be recovered, starting with the value of being together''. According to Zanin, ''the Balkans can be a test site to recover the idea of a much more effective and efficient Europe, because if Europe remains based on technocracy, and has no face, citizens will continue to misunderstand it''. For this reason, he added, ''we must base all decisions on the territories''. (ANSA).