Two mayors from two different bordering towns: Gorizia (North-East Italy) and Nova Gorica (Slovenia) have staged a protest against the closure of the borders due to the coronavirus emergency. One desk cut in two by a net because of the newly erected borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic .  This is the symbol of the demonstrative action by Gorizia’s mayor Rodolfo Ziberna and Nova Gorica‘s mayor Klemen Miklavic.

“European leaders are fighting in Brussels, they are erecting borders, and they are managing the pandemic on their own. Instead, we are continuing to work together to build the real Europe of its citizens and families with their concerns,” they stated in a note.

Gorizia and Nova Gorica represent a symbol of the many fractures and reconciliations in the European history. After the end of WWII, several districts of the Gorizia municipality were handed over to the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, together with the vast majority of the former Province of Gorizia. Around a half of the pre-war area of the municipality of Gorizia, with an approximate 20% of the population, were annexed to Yugoslavia. The national border was drawn just off the town center marking the border of the “Iron Curtain”.