Margaritis Schinas, European Commission Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, gave the opening speech and stated: 

"This strategy is as historic, as it is unfortunately necessary. I do not have to remind this group that antisemitism is tragically again on the rise, exacerbated by the context of the pandemic."

The Working Group meeting focused on the development of the national strategies and how this will be supported through the EU strategy. Participants looked into areas Member States can cover in their national strategies and (targeted) actions they can include, exchanging best practices between Member States and on facilitating dialogue between the Member States and Jewish organisations and communities.

In this regard Vice-President Schinas said: 

"We encourage you to develop stand-alone strategies addressing antisemitism, or to take dedicated measures within the national strategies against racism, which the Commission, in line with the EU anti-racism action plan, also encourages Member States to adopt by the end of 2022."