EU must recover its identity says Renzi

(ANSA) - Rome, May 5 - Europe must recover its culture and identity in order to face future challenges, Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday in his address to a round table on the State of the European Union at the Capitoline Museums in Rome. "When we talk about security we often complain about the external borders and many call for the borders to be shut down," he said.
    "But the EU too often pretends to forget that the killers that bloodied the continent came from the heart of our cities... we face a great emergency - that of keeping the cultural and identity challenge together with the security challenge". He added "the European Commission's approach is the only one to win against populism and demagoguery...this is why this is not the time (to build) walls. Thinking about shutting down the Brenner Pass does not only go against our own history - it goes against our future". He went on to hail EC chief Jean-Claude Juncker's stance on the asylum seeker crisis. "From day one of the migrant crisis he called on us...to remember we are united not just by a currency, but also by a heritage of values," Renzi said.