Europe is going through a difficult period which is why the European spirit should prevail over the national, namely over nationalism, Croatian Prime Minister and Social Democrat Party (SDP) leader Zoran Milanovic said in his speech delivered at a conference which started in Turin on Thursday.
The conference called "Renaissance for Europe: Peace, Prosperity and Progress" brought together leading European left politicians.
That European spirit which left wing parties have is missing, Milanovic said adding that Europe meant unity and common interests.
Milanovic said this had been visible the most in Brussels where the EU budget had been discusses with EU leaders focusing more on the interests of their respective countries to be able to face their people, because everybody wanted to come out of this as a winner.
Milanovic said he had met three years ago Pier Luigi Bersani, the current secretary of the Democratic Party and a candidate for Italian prime minister at the next election, and that on this occasion he wished him luck at the elections.
French President Francois Hollande addressed the conference via video link.
During the Turin conference Pier Luigi Bersani thanked for the support from the participants. The Democratic Party is the only that can connect the political italy with Europe, he said.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic Party of Germany said that the future of European countries lay in a more social-prone attitude than in the strictness of banks.
