It was 25's April 1951 when General Eisenhower wrote: "it is strongly desirable to establish a Defense College in the near future, in order to train individuals able to serve NATO with key capabilities". Two months later, the 25 June, the College was born. This was recalled by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who spoke at the commemorative ceremony of the 50 anniversary of the establishment of NATO Defense College (NDC) in Rome and at 65 years since the creation of the Alliance.
Stoltenberg thanked Italy for its hospitality and constant support for the Alliance; he then pointed out how the NDC has a glorious history and how it has contributed to NATO's ability to keep pace with changing threats and challenges. The NATO Defense College is, in fact, the only Institute within the Atlantic Alliance dedicated to the formation of top leadership as well as to research in the field of geo-politics and strategy.
"Like NATO - said Stoltenberg - the NDC also began in the early years of the Cold War, evolved over time and, just like NATO, remained true to fundamental principles. The twelve founding members of the Alliance were determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law"Today the allies are 28 and the new and complex challenges: these include terrorism, energy security, hybrid warfare, cyberattacks, instability in Eastern Europe and the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.
And it is precisely on these last topics that the president of the Italian republic, Sergio Mattarella, intervenes: "in an increasingly globalized world, more and more interconnected, what happens inside and above states reverberates over everyone, starting from terrorism to the great challenge of epochal migrations. In order to cope with emergencies of this magnitude, we must abandon partial approaches, national logics and reason even more strongly in unity".
Returning to the immigration question, the president declared: "it is urgent that NATO implement its strategy towards the Mediterranean together with the European Union and other international organizations. From here comes an instability that inevitably unloads on our countries and on our institutions, urging them to live up to the founding values of our democracies. An instability that if not contracted is destined to spread thanks to the rapidity of communications, the strengthening of criminal networks and the presence of a migratory front not destined to be exhausted in a short time".
Matters that NATO is called to face and that push us, even more than in the past, to overcome borders or purely domestic visions, because, added Mattarella "only together could we all be safer, stronger and freer".
