The German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be received this morning in Strasbourg, in the premises of the Council of Europe. The visit of the head of Berlin’s Government will have its highlight in her speech to the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), gathered all week to work around a tight agenda. Also today, they will discuss the relation between the Islamic communities in Europe and terrorism, while in the afternoon the Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, will submit a report on the work done by his office. In opening the session yesterday, the president of PACE, Lluís Maria de Puig, stated: "If we look at the main events that happened in Europe" in the last few months, "we will see that European unity has been hit hard. I am speaking in particular of the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo and the differences that have emerged between the members of the CoE on the occasion of the NATO summit in Bucharest". The new president wondered if "new divisions" between the nations are coming up in the old continent. "Our continent has extraordinary historical, cultural and geopolitical complexity, and we have to respect the feelings of our peoples in this respect. After all, European unity doesn’t means European standardisation".
