This morning, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, Pina Picierno, Vice-President of the European Parliament, announced her decision to join the European Democratic Party and Renew Europe. Her membership request has already been submitted to the vote of the EDP Presidency and Congress. This choice strengthens the role of the EDP in Italy and across Europe and consolidates a reformist, liberal, federalist and pro-European political space, capable of bringing together growth, social justice, the rule of law, civil rights and responsible government.
Picierno explained her European positioning as follows: “I am joining the European Democratic Party, founded among others by Romano Prodi, and Renew Europe, two organisations working to build a federal Europe and a pragmatic alternative to sovereignist right-wing forces and populism. For those who see European integration as an instrument of freedom, prosperity and security.” Her decision places her within the political family that defends liberal democracy and European integration as concrete tools to address security, competitiveness, innovation and strategic autonomy.
The Vice-President of the European Parliament also links this new path to the construction of a pro-European and democratic pole, open to reformist energies in Italy and Europe: “In the coming days we will present ‘Spazio Pubblico’, a committee open to the energies present in Italy and Europe that want to fight a common battle. The goal is to unite a front that is too often fragmented, to build a pro-European and democratic pole by bringing together pro-European and reformist cultures. There is a people waiting for a new political development and we have a duty to work together to offer it to them.” This perspective speaks directly to the mission of the EDP: to give political shape to a European community capable of overcoming sterile divisions and offering citizens a credible, concrete and governing proposal. In the interview, Picierno also connects this new path to the need for a serious and pragmatic political proposal: “There is instead a country asking for a serious, reformist and pragmatic political proposal, capable of combining social justice, economic growth and institutional responsibility.” This is precisely the space in which the EDP intends to continue building a common home for democrats, liberals and reformists, as an alternative to sovereignism, populism and ideological simplifications.
Sandro Gozi, MEP for Renew Europe and Secretary General of the European Democratic Party, welcomes the decision as a highly significant political step: “I am very pleased to welcome Pina Picierno to the European Democratic Party and to our Renew Europe alliance. It is a coherent and important choice that strengthens our European political project. Pina Picerno’s arrival in the EDP has strong political and symbolic value: Vice-President of the European Parliament, Pina Picierno contributed to the building of the Italian Democratic Party and today chooses to continue her political commitment with us, European Democrats.” For Gozi, Picierno’s choice confirms the EDP’s ability to attract skills, leadership and political cultures that want to give Europe a reformist, democratic and governing direction.
“At a time marked by wars, harsh global competition, new empires and technological revolutions,” he continued, “we must combine freedom and innovation, security and rights, power and transnational democracy. And in Italy too, we want to promote a European federalist, reformist and governing force.” According to Gozi, “her membership confirms that this political space is growing across Europe thanks to the EDP, which continues to attract new political movements, energies, skills and leadership that refuse to resign themselves to the populist drifts of the traditional right and left, to new nationalisms and ideological simplifications.” “Pina Picierno’s choice,” he added, “is the choice to join a political community that brings together reformists, democrats and liberals and wants to build a more powerful and more democratic Europe. The EDP’s story is rooted in the intuition of Romano Prodi, Francesco Rutelli and François Bayrou, and today demonstrates even more clearly the foresight of its founders.”
“More and more pro-Europeans and democrats are looking to the EDP because they understand that the future is not built by defending old national political borders, but by fighting for true European independence,” concluded the EDP Secretary General. With Pina Picierno’s entry, the European Democratic Party strengthens its profile for those who want to build a Europe capable of deciding, protecting and innovating. For the EDP, the next step is to turn this new energy into political initiative, in Italy and across Europe, around a project that brings together economic freedom and individual freedoms, social inclusion, growth and European democracy, within an open, European and federalist political platform.
