The Politics for Unity Movement (Mppu) has promoted a space dedicated to dialogue at the service of parliamentarians and civil society representatives acting within the institutions of the European Union. A vision of a Europe of peace capable of stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals.

by Rita Lucchi

Font: Città Nuova

“There is a river, the Dnipro, flowing through the member states of the Euroregion (Ukraine, Russian Federation, Belarus) that thus becomes the symbol of unity; the flowing of its waters is the emblem of dialogue in freedom, its source and its mouth the embodiment of the beginning of a path and the achievement of the final goals and work for a Europe that stretches from the Atlantic to the Urals.” So begins the experience of Pina Marmo, former full member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and now a member of the European Mppu.

It has long been thought that a Center should be established in Europe to bring together the national Mppu groups to be an international “laboratory” (workshop) of political innovation composed of people involved, at different levels, in politics and society.

On November 9 at 6 p.m., the inauguration was held at the headquarters of the Focolare Movement in Brussels, a meeting place where politicians and citizens can, as Miguel Aguado, president of Mppu Europe, expressed in his opening remarks, “look forward and work together, in trust, overcoming party lines and ideological barriers, overcoming the distance between the political establishment and civil society, overcoming regional and national differences…. a space where they can find support and a moment of relief, of fraternity even among people who think differently. The primary task of the European Mppu, is to make a contribution in response to the enormous challenges facing Europe. Today we find ourselves in a Europe torn apart by an absurd war. We are witnessing large-scale cruelties that we hoped we would never witness again on our continent, which must once again become a beacon for the rest of the world and an example of how to live together in a fraternal way, how to be united in diversity.”

Aguado continued in his proclamation, saying that the Mppu European Center has adopted as its motto Igino Giordani’s phrase, “If you want peace, prepare peace.”

The inauguration moment highlighted the very important role that the Brussels Hearth takes on as a place where people working at different levels in European institutions or other international organizations have felt the need to create a network and ” have a home” that can foster all efforts toward a unity in diversity and extend it to all of Europe.

In fact, the November 9 meeting was attended by a number of MEPs from different affiliations: Nicola Procaccini, Patrizia Toia, Elisabetta Gualmini, Brando Benifei, and Pietro Bartolo. But also Alfonso Zardi, currently coordinator of Pax Christi in France and former official of the Council of Europe department in Strasbourg, Fr. Manuel Barrios Prieto Secretary General of COMECE, several European Parliament officials and citizens.

Mario Bruno, president of Mppu International, introduced the meeting by bringing the greetings of the network spread across 5 continents to promote and defend before our affiliations and diversities, the founding values of the person and peoples. Fraternity inspires our political actions: the “how,” the fraternal relationship between us, becomes substantial in the same way as the content. Indeed, it is the most important content that leads to making choices characterized by a greater love for the good of all.

Some of the MEPs present expressed their keen appreciation for the initiative, declaring their willingness to be involved and to interest other colleagues in this Mppu Europe adventure.

“Here one finds areas,” said Hon. Patrizia Toia, “in which one talks, gets to know each other and discovers things that one would never do in politics, such as discovering, through his experience in contact with the Focolare Movement, that so many divisions at the level of peoples, there are not and that politics must start again from fraternal relations with citizens, with colleagues from other political affiliations and different nations.

Hon. Pietro Bartolo spoke about his experience as a doctor in Lampedusa, which led him, later, to engage in European politics as a place of decision-making. “I often feel loneliness,” Bartolo said, “but if we are in this family, if we are together, we will be able to give common answers. I feel at home here.”

Hon. Elisabetta Gualmini, in her speech, expressed hope and trust in European institutions, because doing politics means being in the change. Alfonso Zardi called on Mppu Europe to work so that the peace that characterized our continent is at the center of our commitment. Other speeches and experiences followed.

The augural meeting of the European Mppu showed the clear perspective of a Europe united in diversity, looking together toward a united world. In those present there was a great desire to get down to work right away because, as Chiara Lubich said exactly 21 years ago in Innsbruck at the 2001 meeting of the Thousand Mayors for Europe, “it is certainly worth committing one’s existence.”

Now, the Dnipro River continues to flow, certainly pregnant with much ash produced by the war, but it flows, life is there. It is up to us to begin again, to believe and work for a Europe that stretches from the Atlantic to the Urals.