"The situation prevents the President continuing his journey in Europe": few words from a diplomatic source to explain that the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, has left to go back to the Middle East, because of the state of things resulting from yesterday’s Israeli army’s operation in Jericho. After meeting the Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, president on duty of the EU Council, in Vienna yesterday, today Abbas should have been in Strasbourg to make an address to the EU Parliament and meet the head of the EU Commission, José Manuel Barroso. So, the Palestinian leader’s meeting with the EU institutions has been cancelled; a new date will be agreed upon soon. Yesterday, Parliament met the German Federal President Horst Köhler. In his address, the Head of State, after acknowledging the problems the integration process is going through, invited the EU "to turn the challenges into opportunities", and pay special attention to the Constitution and the "democratic involvement of the citizens".
