(ANSA) - BERLIN - ''Islam does not belong to Germany, Germany has been moulded by Christianity'': said the new interior minister, Bavaria's Horst Seehofer, in an interview with the tabloid Bild on newsstands on Friday. ''From Christianity our country has taken free Sundays and religious festivals or rites like Easter, Pentecost or Christmas'', the minister added.

''As a matter of fact - he emphasized - the Muslims who live here belong to Germany, but this does not mean that we must for this reason renounce our typical traditions, due to an excessive and wrong attitude towards them''.

The debate on Islam's membership of the German society sparked row Germany, driven by the good election result obtained by the far-right party 'Alternative fuer Deutschland'. The phrase: ''Islam is part of Germany and Europe'' was said by Wolfgang Schaeuble, at the opening of the Islamkonferenz in 2006, the conference created to foster dialogue between the Muslim community and the German state. (ANSA).