EU neeting of special envoys on combating anti-Semitism
EU neeting of special envoys on combating anti-SemitismShahar Azran

The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union issued an official declaration on Tuesday affirming its commitment to contributing and supporting international initiatives directed at tackling the challenges facing Jewish communities, concluding the first International Meeting of Special Envoys and Coordinators on Combating Antisemitism, organized as a cooperative effort of the World Jewish Congress, Romanian Prime Minister and EU Council President Viorica Dăncilă, and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania.

The unprecedented two-day meeting brought together the national directors of more than 50 Jewish communities around the world with more than 30 government representatives tasked specifically with combating antisemitism, in order to identify the key issues and deliberate best practices going forward, under the banner “Perspective to a Future Strategy to Prevent and Fight Antisemitism, Racism, Xenophobia, Radicalization and Hate Speech."

The EU presidency’s declaration affirmed that “the conclusion of the meeting indicates that significant challenges remain to be tackled, and extra measures should be envisaged,” in certain areas, with four identified in particular: 1) Improving dialogue and cooperation to ensure the security of Jewish communities; 2) promoting the endorsement of the non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance; 3) financing Holocaust research, education, and remembrance; and 4) improving the recording and collecting of hate crime data, including specialized training programs for law enforcement and criminal justice authorities and providing support to organizations actively involved with collection of data regarding hate crimes.

The full declaration can be read here