Giorgia Meloni awarded in New York with the Global Citizen Award | EUROtoday

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Giorgia Meloni was among the many political and enterprise leaders honored final night time with the Global Citizen Awards by the nice American suppose tank Atlantic Council. At the awards gala in New York on the event of the 79th UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister was acknowledged for her “revolutionary role as the first Italian female Prime Minister, her support for the European Union and the Transatlantic Alliance, and her presidency of the G7 in 2024”.

Meloni was launched by Elon Musk, who expressed his “admiration” for the prime minister, and, he stated, for the “incredible work she is doing” in Italy. Musk cited financial development and low unemployment. Meloni thanked him for “the beautiful words about me” and for his “precious genius.” She then stated that she had discarded many concepts in her speech and had chosen to supply ultimately what she referred to as a “different perspective.” She cited those that outline her political opinions as “Western nationalism” and, whereas she stated she was undecided that the time period nationalism was “correct,” she added that she is aware of that “we should not be ashamed to use and defend words and concepts such as Nation and Patriotism.” Because they outline “a state of mind,” a “belonging,” a sharing of “culture, traditions and values.”

Again: “When we see our flag, if we are proud it means that we are proud to be part of a community”. The West, he continued, “for me is more than a place”, it’s a “civilization built over the centuries by the genius and sacrifices of many”. A “system of values ​​in which the person is central, men and women are equal and free, and the systems are democratic, life is sacred, the state is secular and based on respect for the law”. As the West, he continued, there are two dangers to face: what he referred to as Oikophobia, the concern of 1’s own residence, of the symbols of 1’s personal civilization, within the US as in Europe. The second is the “paradox” of belittling oneself and on the identical time boasting of being superior. This results in changing into a “less credible” interlocutor, to changing into a “closed fortress”, to leaving room for autocracies.

Instead, he talked about, for instance of a response, the Mattei Plan launched by Italy for Africa, aimed, he argued, at constructing long-term partnerships. And he claimed that on the coronary heart of it’s the necessity to “recover awareness of who we are,” as “Western populations” assured of their values ​​– described as “a synthesis born from the encounter between Greek philosophy, Roman law and Christian humanism.” Here, he insisted, is the response to autocracies that talk of the decline of the West, of democracies that fail their populations. “We will defend our values,” he stated, and “patriotism is the best response to declinism.” He quoted Ronald Reagan in saying that “no weapon is as powerful as the will and moral courage of free men and women.” And Giuseppe Prezzolini in recalling the significance of “learning the lessons of the past.”

Meloni concluded by stating that “defending our roots” is a precondition for a greater future: “We defend Ukraine” as a result of “we know the chaos of a world where the law of the strongest prevails”; we combat human traffickers as a result of we bear in mind the combat “to abolish slavery”; and in growing synthetic intelligence we attempt to govern its dangers as a result of “we do not intend to trade freedom for comfort”.