WEBVTT

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In my life I've done
at least one thing right,

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I take the full responsibility
for it,

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I personally thought about it
and I chose it,

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and then I shared it with the
other members of my government:

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organising the humanitarian
and military rescue operation,

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to save lives of migrants
in the Mediterranean,

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which was called
Operation Mare Nostrum.

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It was hard to organise it,
to carry it out,

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even to devise it,
it was an original operation.

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And it was extremely criticised.

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That choice
saved thousands of human lives.

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What most annoyed me of all
criticism against Mare Nostrum...

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...was falseness.

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Using those events to settle
internal scores,

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or to extract political gain,
to improve one's image.

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When human lives are involved,
such tricks should be avoided.

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Europe has always been
the common thread of my life,

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both personally and professionally.

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I have lived in Strasbourg,
a place where there was a border,

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the bloodiest border in Europe,

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where millions of French,
German, European people have died,

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to move it from one place
to another.

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In those years I experienced
the concept of border,

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and I experienced
the end of that border,

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and the beauty of a united Europe
with Strasbourg as a capital.

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In those few though intense,
beautiful and fascinating months,

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during which I represented Italy
in the European Council,

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I tried to be the strongest
supporter of Europeaism.

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Nowadays Germany
is prevailing in Europe,

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Germany made long-term investments
in their leadership teams,

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they sent to Brussels
highly-qualified officials,

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they invested in
political careers in Brussels,

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and today Europe speaks
more German than ever before.

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They were more far-sighted than us.

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The other European countries,
Italy above all,

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thought that careers were
only made in Rome.

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You can't escape from the geography
and the history of a country,

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even in the times of the Internet,

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we Italians are in the middle
of the Mediterranean,

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we have responsibilities,

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and we must take on
these responsibilities.