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Pope Francis is visiting Strasbourg where he will address the European Parliament and Council of Europe on social and economic issues.

The Pope is expected to speak about anti-immigration sentiment and unemployment during his four-hour trip.

Many of Strasbourg’s Catholics are upset that he will not meet them or visit the city’s cathedral.

Some Catholics have accused the Pope of neglecting Europe since his election in 2013.

Pope Francis visited the Italian island of Lampedusa in July 2013 to meet and pray for illegal immigrants, and went to Albania in September. The Pope has said that he is planning a second visit to France in 2015.

Residents of Strasbourg have been told they can watch both of the pontiff’s speeches on a giant screen that will be installed inside the cathedral, which is celebrating its millennial anniversary.

Pope Francis is making the second papal visit to Strasbourg after Pope John Paul II visited the city in 1988.

Pope John Paul II addressed the European parliament where he was heckled by Northern Irish MEP the Rev Ian Paisley.

During his speech the late Pope called Europe “a beacon of civilization”.

However, Pope Francis has called Europe a “tired” continent which worships the “idol of money”.

In Strasbourg, Pope Francis is expected to call for greater tolerance and inclusion in response to the success nationalist parties have seen in parts of Europe.

In May, several of these parties performed strongly in the European parliamentary elections.

Pope Francis is also thought likely to address Europe’s ongoing economic crisis and the social problems that it has created.

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EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for the EU to evolve into a “federation of nation-states”.

Addressing the EU parliament in Strasbourg, Jose Manuel Barroso said such a move was necessary to combat the continent’s economic crisis.

He said he believed Greece would be able to stay in the eurozone if it stood by its commitments.

Jose Manuel Barroso also set out plans for a single supervisory mechanism for all banks in the eurozone.

He called the plans a “quantum leap… the stepping stone to the banking union”.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for the EU to evolve into a federation of nation-states

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for the EU to evolve into a federation of nation-states

The European Central Bank would get much greater powers of oversight and regulation of Europe’s 6,000 banks under the plan.

Jose Manuel Barroso said he was not calling for a “superstate”, but rather “a democratic federation of nation states that can tackle our common problems, through the sharing of sovereignty”.

“Creating this federation… will ultimately require a new treaty,” he said.

The inability of governments thus far to respond effectively to economic developments was “fuelling populism and extremism in Europe and also elsewhere”, he added.

The banking union would be a big first step in the creation of closer union within the eurozone.

There will be opposition to the plans – the German government, for example, says far fewer banks should be involved.

Britain does not want to take part but supports the idea of a single supervisor for the eurozone, as long as it does not affect the integrity of the wider EU single market.