On the occasion of Europe Day and the launch of the institutional campaign “Use your vote”, the Office of the European Parliament in Italy and the Representation of the European Commission in Italy, in collaboration with Rome Capital and the Associazione Civita, are organizing a series of events at the Capitol today to celebrate, debate, and raise awareness in anticipation of the upcoming elections on June 8 and 9. From 9 am to 1:30 pm, in the Giulio Cesare Hall of the Capitol, there will be institutional interventions and debates on the topics of democracy, identity, values, and the future of Europe. Representing the institutions will be Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, and Raffaele Fitto, Minister for European Affairs, the South, cohesion policies, and the PNRR. The event will be opened by Gianni Letta, president of the Associazione Civita. Following this, students from schools representing the European Parliament in their first vote will engage in dialogue with Roberto Gualtieri, mayor of Rome, Matt Brittin, president of Google for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Simonetta Cheli, director of Earth Observation Programmes and head of the Esa Esrin agency, Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, Nicolò Mardegan, director of External Relations at Enel, and Lauro Panella, head of unit and author of the European Parliament’s study on the costs of non-Europe. Maria Cristina Pisani, president of the National Youth Council, will introduce the debate. The morning will close with a panel on the role of the media in European democracy featuring Maria Rita Grieco, deputy director of TG1, Fiorenza Sarzanini, deputy director of Corriere della Sera, Anna Piras, deputy director of Rai Parlamento, Liliana Faccioli Pintozzi, foreign editor of Sky Tg24, and Svetlana Celli, president of the Rome City Council. Carlo Corazza, director of the Office of the European Parliament in Italy, Antonio Parenti, Representative of the European Commission in Italy, and Pierre Emmanuel De Bauw, ambassador of Belgium, will deliver introductory remarks at the event, which will begin with the screening of the official video of the #UseYourVote campaign.
In the evening event “Lights of Europe: a journey in verses, words, and music”, which will take place from 7 pm to 9 pm in Piazza del Campidoglio. The evening will open with greetings from Mayor Roberto Gualtieri and the screening of a video from the European Parliament ahead of the elections. The program includes readings of texts on democracy and European integration, images and music with the participation of Alfa, Lorenzo Baglioni, Lino Banfi, Cristiana Capotondi, Ludovica Coscione, Anna Favella, Giulia Molino, Alessandro della Giusta, and Edoardo Purgatori. Laura Squillaci, a journalist for Rai, will host the evening, which will be free to attend. At 9 pm, the mayor and the artists present will press a button to symbolically kick off the illumination with the colors of Europe throughout the country in temples, amphitheaters, villages, squares, town halls, churches, and other monuments and symbolic places of Italian and European culture, identity, and creativity.
