In 2004, the European Union underwent its most extensive expansion to date, with Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Cyprus, and Malta all joining practically simultaneously. Calling for "courageous reforms" and a "completion of the European project" in terms of both structural advancement and new enlargement, President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella sent significant signals to the European Union of the present and, more importantly, of the future, yesterday. Compared to the 2004 phase, which also brought Europe closer to a real Constitution but was aborted due to a lack of unanimity, "today we need a constructive spirit in the face of the challenges and threats we face", Mattarella explains. "Some countries are on the border with the terrible war resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has ignored every rule of international law. The circumstances of those nations would have been drastically different had they not been members of that Union. This is where the significance of that decision becomes readily apparent, as history invariably delivers the bill in due course". However, what he cautions about is "the urgency of completing the European project, which is now more than ever essential, especially for the Western Balkans, which have been waiting for over 20 years and cannot be delayed any longer". For the Head of State, the elections on June 8 and 9 will be critical, as "400 million European citizens will be called to vote, a great exercise in democracy: I hope for a high turnout in the vote, because citizens are the protagonists. After that, it will be the responsibility of the institutions to ensure that the Union is a protagonist: Europe and its member states cannot continue to be largely passive observers of events of unprecedented development in the international community, events of which we suffer the consequences. This calls for courageous reforms for the next legislature".
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