Italy's Renzi calls for 'different Europe' at Athens EU Med Summit
"The Athens Declaration is very important, since it constitute an added value to the description of a Europe that is different from that we have known until now," he said during a joint press conference with his counterparts in Athens.
A future Europe must be based on the deeper values that govern it, a social Europe of ideas and beauty, Renzi added.
The Italian prime minister called Europe a 'soft power' that needed to forge a real identity, adding that the European of the future will resemble to the 'good and virtuous man of ancient Greece'.
"We are talking about morality, about ethics, about our future based on the grand ideas governing us, not just bureaucracy and nationalisms," he said.
He noted that the real challenge of the meeting in Athens was to "outline our future at the summit in Bratislava in view of the Maltese presidency" and to see whether Europe could reach its best.