President von der Leyen addresses AJC Virtual Global Forum 2021
9 June 2021 - The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed thousands participating in the 2021 American Jewish Committee (AJC) Virtual Global Forum. She reiterated the Commission’s commitment to fighting antisemitism, fostering Jewish life, Holocaust remembrance and strong EU-Israel partnership.
After taking office as Commission President in 2019, I stepped up Europe´s fight against antisemitism. This is why, later this year, the Commission will adopt its first-ever “EU strategy on combatting antisemitism and fostering Jewish life”. (…) All European students should learn about the Holocaust – no matter their background, family history or country of origin. (…) we want to foster Jewish life in Europe in all its diversity. We want to make sure that Jews are free to follow their religious and cultural traditions. (…) the European Commission has significantly increased the budget for preventing and addressing antisemitism, and fostering Jewish life. And we will also take action if European money is used to call into question Israel's right to exist.
Commission calls on Greece, the Netherlands and Lithuania to fully transpose EU law criminalising hate speech and hate crimes
09 June 2021 - The Commission decided to send letters of formal notice to Greece, the Netherlands and Lithuania as their national laws do not fully or accurately transpose EU rules on combating racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law (Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA). The purpose of this Framework Decision is to ensure that serious manifestations of racism and xenophobia, such as public incitement to violence or hatred, are punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties.
The Commission co-organises training for Croatian national security intitutions on raising awareness about antisemitism
7 June 2021 - The European Commission together with the OSCE ODIHR and the World Jewish Congress organised the training on 'Raising Awareness and Building Effective Communication between National Security Institutions and the Jewish Community in Croatia'. Katharina von Schnurbein, Coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, gave an opening speech in which she highlighted the rise in antisemitism and the need to combat it, including through the upcoming Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life in the EU. Wester Meijdam, Policy Officer, gave an overview of the challenges faced by today's Jewish community in Europe and the EU policies to combat antisemitism and foster Jewish life. He focused on the need to improve data collection and recording of antisemitic incidents, and highlighted funding opportunities to combat antisemitism.
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