Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics talked about the value of European and national identity at a conference on Hungarian-Croatian-Italian history hosted by the Hungarian Academy of Rome on Friday.

He stated that the conference, entitled Italian Examples and Sources for Hungarian and Croatian Patriotism, assesses the influence of Italian culture on the development of the nation in Hungary and Croatia.

Ever since the middle ages numerous Hungarian and Croatian students, noblemen and priests attended universities in Italy and Italian religious orders helped the development of Hungarian education institutions, Mr Navracsics said. By contributing their traditions, every nation has enriched the common European heritage, he added.

"Many people in today's Europe cannot appreciate the richness of this diversity. They aim for homogeneous unity which is unnecessary and goes contrary to the traditions of the Continent," he emphasised.

The conference held as part of this year's Italian-Hungarian season has been joined by, among others, the Sapienza University of Rome, the Accademia dei Lincei Italian academy, the American Academy of Rome, the Pontifical Croatian College, the Dalmatian Local History Society and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' research centre for the humanities.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)