EESC Publishes Opinion on EU Strategy on Combatting Antisemitism
13/04/2022
The EESC have published their opinion on the EU Strategy on Combatting Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life.
The EESC believes that any phenomenon of antisemitism is incompatible with European values and norms, as it leads to violations of the law and to exclusion, which is a threat not only to the communities concerned and Jewish life, but also to Europe’s heritage and present, and to a democratic European future. The Committee broadly supports the establishment of the Strategy and the fact that it was preceded by a broad consultation process in 2021. It strongly supports that the Strategy is not only about combating antisemitism, but also about fostering Jewish life. It firmly believes that antisemitism is not only a violation of the law affecting European Jews, but is also a test of the European idea, European coexistence, the rule of law, fundamental rights and democracy. The EESC believes that all Member States have a fundamental obligation to ensure that their citizens have the freedom to hold religious beliefs and practice their religions without fear. It further recommends the formation of a permanent unit at Council level to monitor and combat antisemitism, in order to implement the Strategy even more effectively.
Recommendation 2.7 specifically labels the NOA project, stating that ‘the EESC recommends that the Networks Overcoming Antisemitism (NOA) project, which is supported by the European Commission and uses objective questions and indicators based on international and EU standards to assess the steps taken by individual Member States to combat antisemitism, be widely applied in all Member States, so as to help them to implement and develop their policies effectively.’
The full opinion can be found here.
NOA is co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020) of the European Union