(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 16 - President Sergio Mattarella on Monday sounded the alarm about an upswing in nationalism, addressing the 17th States General of Diplomacy conference, which is taking place at the foreign ministry in Rome.
    "We are faced with the paradox of an increasingly interconnected, interdependent global society going through a phase in which the sirens of nationalistic and ethnic sectarianism are once again appearing with their stale recipes," the head of State said.
    "Deep divisions and fractures are multiplying".
    The president also warned of the threat posed by non-State actors.
    "One wonders what place diplomacy has in this context, with respect to attitudes and forces - including of a non-state nature - that aim to undermine the framework of norms and principles established to ensure stable and orderly interactions among members of the international community, according to recognised rules valid for all," Mattarella said.
    "This is not the first time in history that states have been challenged in their ability to pursue and guarantee the interests of peoples and, therefore, of their citizens.
    "This is a issue that appears to be of renewed topicality in the face of international operators who are free of any homeland, whose financial power now exceeds that of medium-sized states and whose management of essential services often verges on monopolistic status".
    He also talked about the manipulative use of information.
    "Globalisation and digitalisation have made the world much more interconnected and interdependent," Mattarella said.
    "This has benefited mutual knowledge and, at the same time, attempts by some governments to block information flows and relations between citizens of various countries or to negatively affect them through hostile means of manipulating information and influencing opinion have emerged once again".
    Mattarella stressed that the Italian Constitution guarantees the "right to asylum for a foreigner who is prevented from exercising democratic freedoms in their country".
    He noted that courts of justice guarantee the application of the law.
    "We can find the stability of a position in the principles defined by the Constitution, in articoles 10 and 11.
    "The right to asylum for foreigners who are not allowed in their country to exercise democratic freedoms, the rejection of war, the pursuit of peace and justice among nations also through limitations to sovereignty, in a condition of equality with the other States.
    "From here, Europe's integration, international Conventions, from here the deriving Courts of justice to safeguard the application of legislations", he said.
    Speaking about Ukraine, the president said the country can "count on our convinced military, economic, diplomatic and humanitarian support, as well as on guarantees that have been included in the bilateral accord with Kyiv.
    "The European perspective is the one chosen by Ukrainians and they know they can count on Italy's support".
    He also stressed the need for the Palestinian people to have a State of their own.
    "Pursuing the objective of Palestinian statehood means offering the people of the West Bank and Gaza a goal of justice and a convincing prospect of hope for their future, which is also an indispensable condition for a final solid guarantee of security for Israel," he said.
    "It will be necessary to accompany the definition of the State that will arise from the new situation in Syria with similar tenacity, both politically and in terms of the humanitarian consequences". (ANSA).