"The soul of Europe is tolerance": Angela Merkel, German Chancellor and president on duty of the European Council, spoke in Strasbourg today to present her six-monthly work plan to the Parliament of the 27 member states. Merkel gave a full account, which spoke of the history of integration, since the signing of the EEC Treaties of 1957, recalled the "pillars" of the Community, such as peace, freedom "in all its aspects", "multiplicity", accountability. "Jacques Delors, the former president of the European Commission, invited us stated the Christian-Democrat leader to give a soul to Europe. I think it already has a soul. So we only have to find this soul again". Hence her reflection on tolerance, where she associated the success met by integration in half a century, the values, the goals "which in the meantime have changed with the time", the "current problems". The German presidency’s motto will be "Europe will make it together. Because specified the speaker together we have to plan Europe, together we can face the big challenges that stand before us". (to be continued)
