In the context of autonomy for national minorities, consideration needs also to be given to the state of Europe and its evolution. The break-up of multi-ethnic empires and the increasing number of demands based on identity as a member of a group (as opposed to individual identity as a citizen) in the Council's 47 member states, including the examples of Kosovo, Chechnya, Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, are all grounds for caution. The threats of terrorist violence, as in the Basque Country, or of ethnic cleansing which occurred in the Balkans, are also sad realities.