(AGENPARL) – mar 24 ottobre 2023 A very warm welcome to all the authorities and guests of OMC in our beautiful Ravenna.
This year we celebrate a major milestone, the 30th edition of OMC, an event of primary importance for Ravenna closely related to our city and its prominent role in the field of energy. For this reason, I am proud to do the honours and to welcome every one of you in our wonderful city.
Today, you can see Ravenna in all its beauty. But you wouldn’t have seen all of this some months ago, when this year’s edition of OMC should initially have taken place. In the last May, our territory has been violently hit by two devastating floods within a few days.
A catastrophic event due to climate change.
More than 4,5 billions of cubic metres of water have fallen on a territory of 16 thousand square metres in Emilia-Romagna, causing the overflowing of 23 rivers and thousands of landslides in our hills and mountains. We had around 9 bilion euros in damages.
Only in the Municipality of Ravenna, more than 30 square kilometres have been flooded, affecting 4000 citizens, 3000 buildings, 900 businesses and 37 breeding farms.
We’re not in the right place to broach the subject, but our territory is still fighting a significant battle so that families and businesses get fair compensation and so that all necessary works to make our territory safer are carried out.
In the meantime, we can only be deeply grateful to all the people who were incredibly generous towards our territory, many of whom are here at OMC; also thanks to their help our fundraising has raised more than 8 million euros. This allowed us to provide support to citizens and communities who were hit by the floods, while they are waiting for answers by the Italian Government.
The great history of Ravenna begins in 27 BC, when Emperor Augustus made it a port city, thanks to its strategic location. In the 5th and 6th century, as the capital of the Roman Empire, the city became a crossroads where Byzantine and Roman cultures intertwined, leaving eight Unesco World Heritage monuments. Furthermore, the city features great museums, the Classense Library and archaeological sites.
In 1318 we hosted exile Dante Alighieri, whose Tomb is right here in the city, and in front of which – every day at 6 pm – you can hear the reading of a canto of Divina Commedia.
Our territory also boasts more than 6 thousand hectares of natural areas, part of the Po Delta Park.
But Ravenna has also been a European capital of energy for seventy years, and represents one of the greatest examples of how culture and nature can live together in a healthy way with industry, creating widespread prosperity.
In these years we developed industrial policies for our growth in the fields of port operations, circular economy, chemistry and energy, always offering a positive impact on environmental performances.
Moreover, the port of Ravenna is one of the most important seaports in the Adriatic Sea, is listed among the 83 European “core ports” and is a logistics platform and a highly specialised manufacturing district.
We have also given life with the University of Bologna to a virtuous system in the field of education and research on maritime economy, offshore, navigation, transports, logistics, law and environment.
As soon as Italy had to deal with energy crisis, it was obvious to restart from here.
And it was right from Ravenna that started the proposal of four strategic actions for a new national energy plan: the relaunching of the national production of gas in the Adriatic Sea; the installation of an FSRU off the coast of Ravenna; the realisation of an offshore wind farm of at least 600 Megavolts with adjoining floating photovoltaic system and green hydrogen production thanks to the Agnes project; the realisation of a CCUS system.These four system actions support one another, safeguarding economy, security and ecological transition, offering solutions that were coherent with the technological neutrality required by the new green deal.
Unfortunately, these projects are constantly confronted with the uncertainties of national politics and with exhausting bureaucratic processes.
In particular, apart from the project for the FSRU – for which the Municipality of Ravenna and the Emilia-Romagna region have proved exceptional and special powers that led to the authorization in just 120 days, the theme of the relaunching of the national production of gas has plunged back into pompous proclamations without concreteness. We were not allowed to authorise the offshore wind farm with the same quick procedures as the ones for FSRU, as we had repeatedly requested the government, and it is still fighting against bureaucratic shackles; with respect to the CCUS, we are still waiting for a clear regulation from the Italian Government.
But there’s much more, especially in the tragic war period we are living in, energy is closely tied to the hope for freedom, democracy and peace of Europe and of all the countries overlooking the Mediterranean.
The high cost of energy causes economic crises, poverty and deindustrialisation; exclusive relationships with just one supplier or just one buyer, or the use of just one technology to produce energy make countries subordinate to one another; calamities caused by climate change destroy territories, causing fears and putting whole economic sectors in troubles.
All these aspects make countries weak, and do not allow them to fully exercise their freedom.
Our thousand-year-old culture teaches us that in the long run, there can be no economic development without a growth of human rights, freedom, democracy and peace. But at the same time, our time shows us that without an economic development and spread of wealth, human rights, freedom, democracy and peace go into a crisis and risk moving backwards. It is just an illusion to think that we can support economic growth without taking care of the people’s freedom, as well as pursue democratic values without taking care of improving the material quality of life in the communities. And following this way, we will discover that energy is one of the most important keys.
This is the only possible way that we must more and more firmly pursue, and that has to be clear to all our partners.
In closing and saying goodbye, I wish you a very good stay and an unforgettable time here in Ravenna!
Michele de Pascale
Mayor of Ravenna