Mattarella urges EP vote, EU needs brave reforms

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 22 - President Sergio Mattarella on Monday appealed to people to vote in the June European Parliament elections saying the European Union needed brave reforms.
    "Some 400 million citizens will go to the vote and it will be a great exercise of democracy," he said.
    "I hope for a great participation in the vote, so that citizens become protagonists of their future.
    "Then it will be up to the institutions to make sure the Union becomes a protagonist on the international scene.
    "We cant remain in a condition in which Europe is just a spectator, also of events which are denied to the Union itself.
    "This is a season that requires the courage of incisive and courageous reforms".
    Mattarella was speaking on a visit to Slovenia on the 20th anniversary of its entry into the EU. (ANSA).