Brussels, 07/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - The recent repeated acts of violence against the Jewish community in France, Belgium and England were the subject, on Wednesday, of a telephone conversation between European Commission President Romano Prodi and the President of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), Cobi Benatoff.
Mr Benatoff informed President Prodi about the latest meeting of the EJC Executive Committee held last Wednesday in Milan which had discussed the recent increase in anti-Semitic incidents, and the meetings of the joint working party of representatives from the Commission, the EJC and the Congress of European Rabbis that was set up after the Brussels seminar. He also called for urgent measures to counter current trends. In a press release, the Commission points out that Mr Benatoff "told President Prodi of the alarm voiced by the heads of the various Jewish communities at the fact that, in some European countries, to wear the kipa was effectively to put one's life in danger". Mr Benatoff passed on their calls for urgent measures at both European and national levels. The Executive Committee in Milan had asked that the next Council of Education and/or Justice Ministers of the European Union set aside an hour to discuss the problem of anti-Semitism with representatives from the EJC.
President Prodi shared the concern voiced at the recurrent anti-Semitic attacks and reiterated the Commission's and his own personal commitment to combating this phenomenon. He expressed his confidence in the work of the joint working party since the seminar on anti-Semitism held in February and recalled that a formal meeting of the joint working party would be held on 13 July. Mr Benatoff hoped the question would be treated with the same care and sensitivity by the next Commission president to ensure the continuity of the joint working party's activities.