The Greatest Exercise in Democracy

Nicola Losito: During my recent holiday in Spain, I found myself reflecting on the joy and the freedom I enjoyed moving from one State to another: from not having to change currency, from having my documents recognised, from not having to switch my phone plan, from not having to pay artificial surcharges. Moving between Italy and Denmark is the equivalent of a trip between Bari and Bolzano – there will be differences, and long may they live! – but there will also be things in common, the essential ones, that unite us and make us ‘one people’. . Shutting ourselves away in our own ziggurats will bring us no wellbeing, nor will it take us far as Humanity. Our greatest progress has come whenever we moved beyond the needs of the single individual. This summer, in Brussels, I walked through the courtyards of the European Parliament, and gazed, fascinated, at the buildings of the Council and the Presidency. I couldn’t get inside – it was a Sunday visit and the institutions were asleep – but…