President Sergio Mattarella said European Union must stand up to those who want to destroy it and the rules-based international order in a lecture at the University of Salamanca on Thursday.
"The international order is, by its very nature, dynamic; new players emerge, and new challenges arise," the president said.
"What can Europe do in the face of the decline of the multilateral model of cooperation in the management of relations between states? "Should we accept it being supplanted by a contractual vision based on competition? It is up to Europe to know how to say no".
Quoting Spanish philosopher Maria Zambrano, Mattarella said: "Our soul is traversed by the sediments of centuries; our roots are greater than the branches that see the light.
"We have faith in these foundations: they will not yield to the attacks of those who would dismantle the European project," he continued.
