Joint Statement of Heads of State of Croatia, Italy and Slovenia

Ljubljana, 12.7.2010  |  statement

The presidents of Croatia, Italy and Slovenia were pleased to accept the invitation of Maestro Riccardo Muti to attend the Concert of Friendship organised at Piazza unità d’Italia in Trieste on 13 July. We are aware that the event carries an important message of peace and harmony.

At the concert, Maestro Muti will conduct the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra and the Italian Youth Orchestra. The concert will be enriched by young musicians from the musical academies of Ljubljana and Zagreb and by Italian, Slovenian and Croatian choirs.

Before the concert, we will lay a laurel wreath at the Narodni dom building, which was brutally burned down on 13 July 1920, and at the monument to the exodus of inhabitants of Istria, Rijeka and Dalmatia from their native land, and pay tribute to the memory of past tragedies by our commitment to build a common future of free and fruitful cooperation between our countries and our nations in a united Europe.

Our presence is intended to testify to a firm commitment that what unites us today should prevail over what painfully divided us in the turbulent political period marked by wars between countries and nations.

Croatia, Italy and Slovenia today meet in the spirit of the European Union, which is in essence the herald of respect for diversity and harmony among nations, cultures and languages, which have already coexisted for centuries. We undertake always to promote, in such atmosphere, respect for the rights of all minorities.

Each of our countries is entitled to preserve the memory of the suffering experienced and of the victims of blind violence, as well as to share the pain of the survivors of these bloody events of the past. We fix our gaze on the future that we wish to build and that we are capable of building with the decisive contribution of younger generations and that we can build in a Europe increasingly represented by its diverse traditions and increasingly united in the face of the new challenges of globalisation.