On December 3-4, 2010, the first Symposium on Altiero Spinelli was held in Buenos Aires, with the objective of highlighting the topical significance of the thought of the founder of the European unity movement in other continents and in the whole world. The meeting was promoted by Democracia Global, the movement for South America's Union and a world Parliament, the Argentine branch of the World Federalist Movement, with the support of the Argentine Society for political analysis and the Italian Cultural Institute.
The integration process of South America started in 1991 after the fall of the fascist regimes, with the institution of MERCOSUR which, initiated by four countries of the continent's South Cone ? Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay ?, did show the tendency to extend itself to the rest of South America. Beside promoting economic integration, MERCOSUR has in common with the European Union the goal to consolidate democracy within its member States and to extend it to the regional plane through the direct election of its parliamentary Assembly, to be founded in the near future. In such a context, the birth of a federalist movement in Argentina and the choice of Altiero Spinelli's figure can be explained as being the reference point for a political initiative of a federalist nature aimed at the unification of the South-American continent, in the perspective of world federalism.
The opening of the symposium devoted to Spinelli was held in the Auditorium of the Senate of the Republic, with a speech by Fernando Iglesias, Argentine deputy and founder of Democracia Global, who illustrated the significance and the goals of such an initiative. There were then the speeches by the representative of the Italian Embassy, who read a message by President Napolitano, of the Spanish and European Union's Ambassadors in Argentina, of the MFE President Lucio Levi and the Democracia Global President Fernando Pedrosa.
The following day's session was held in the conference hall of the Argentine Council for international relations, and opened with a conference by Lucio Levi on Altiero Spinelli's figure, followed by two round tables. The first of them, on Assessment, challenges and opportunities of the European Union, saw the participation of the Head of the EU delegation to Argentina, Ambassador Gustavo Martin Prada, Professor Alberto Cimadamore, Secretary of the Latin-American Council of social sciences, Lucio Levi and Fernando Iglesias. In the second, on Integration of South America: problems and opportunities, participated the Chilean Senator Ricardo Nuñez, the Argentine Senator Eugenia Estenssoro, Professor Mariana Luna Pont, coordinator of the Master Course on Latin-American Integration at the 3rd February University in Buenos Aires, and Fernando Pedrosa.
The sessions closed with a meeting with the civil society movements, which showed how much the federalists' initiative has been appreciated for its aspiration to create a coalition of associations with the aim to establish and extend international democracy to both the international and the global level (m.c.).
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