Mattarella extols European values in a context of “open violation of the UN Charter”

The Diplomat King Felipe VI presided this Thursday in Salamanca over the solemn ceremony conferring an honorary doctorate upon the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, by the University of Salamanca. In his address, President Mattarella defended European values in a context of “open violation of the Charter of the United Nations.” During the ceremony, held in the Paraninfo of the historic building of the academic institution, the Italian leader recalled in his speech that “There is a profound relationship between Spain and Italy, which has had an impact, beyond the relationship between states, on the societies of our peoples, in which political, cultural, religious, and intellectual dimensions have constantly intertwined and influenced one another.” Mattarella also praised European values in the current context, in which “the systematic non-compliance, if not outright violation, of the Charter of the United Nations, the abandonment of the operational sectoral organizations of the United Nations system, the dismantling of the arms control system, and the delegitimization of the courts are all phenomena that point in the same disheartening direction.” What results from this, he warned, “is a vacuum, an arbitrary no-man’s-land, an arena for unjustified incursions, in a kind of race for renewed conquests, commercial expansion, and the creation of supposed security zones and areas, a process that ultimately places a heavy burden on the poorest and most disadvantaged countries and peoples.” The awarding of an honorary doctorate to Sergio Mattarella was approved by the University of Salamanca's Faculty Council last January. The academic institution wished to recognize with this distinction his political and academic career, as well as his firm commitment to the values of humanism, culture, and the European project. A graduate in Law from the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” President Mattarella pursued a distinguished teaching career as a professor of Parliamentary Law at the University of Palermo, while also maintaining a prolific scholarly output focused on Constitutional Law. His political career, which began in 1983 as a member of parliament, led him to hold various ministerial positions and to serve on the Italian Constitutional Court, before being elected President of the Republic in 2015, a position to which he was subsequently re-elected. The University of Salamanca, founded in 1218, awards the honorary doctorate as its highest academic distinction to individuals of recognized international prestige in the scientific, cultural, professional, or institutional fields.

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