From tomorrow the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, will be in Sicily to preside over the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the Messina-Taormina Conference of 1955.
The event – organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the Region of Sicily, the Municipalities of Messina and Taormina and the Taobuk Festival – will see the participation of the EU Member States, the candidate and potential candidate countries and the European institutions. Participants will include the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Serbia and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos.
Minister Tajani said: “The Messina-Taormina Conference is a fundamental step in the history of European unity, a moment deeply linked to Italy and Sicily. Welcoming the Member States together with the candidate countries is the concrete demonstration of our country’s commitment to building a more solid European Union capable of facing international challenges together, ranging from the war in Ukraine to the growing tensions in the Middle East. Today’ goal is to start again from the Ministerial Meeting that will be held in Taormina, focusing on peace, growth and reforms, and looking with determination to the Union’s enlargement, to promote security and shared development in Europe and in its Neighbourhood”.
The Messina-Taormina Conference of 1955, strongly desired by the then Foreign Minister, Gaetano Martino, was hosted with the aim of relaunching the process of European integration after the rejection of the proposal for the European Defence Community. The Conference ended with the “Messina Declaration” with which the 6 Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) agreed to commit to the creation of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Community (EEC), established in 1957 with the Treaties of Rome.
The celebrations will open on Wednesday 18 June at 3:15 pm at Palazzo Zanca in Messina with a commemoration dedicated to Gaetano Martino, followed at 7:00 pm by the opening ceremony of the 70th anniversary celebrations and a concert by the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra at the Teatro Antico in Taormina.
The following day, Minister Tajani will chair the works of the Ministerial Meeting in Taormina starting at 9:30 am in the presence of the Ministers and representatives of the EU Member States, candidate and potential candidate countries, and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos.
