World Jewish Congress calls on European Parliament to ... to fight ...anti-Semitism
BRUSSELS/NEW YORK (EJP)---The World Jewish Congress (WJC) called for the creation of a special committee to fight extremism and anti-Semitism within the newly elected European Parliament.
The WJC praised German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier for taking the lead on this matter. In an op-ed published in the German newspaper ‘Frankfurter Rundschau’ on Wednesday, Steinmeiner urged a Europe-wide minimum threshold to prevent a splinter group, such as the neo-Nazi NPD party in Germany, from entering the European assembly.
“It would be more just a symbolic gesture if the European lawmakers decided to create a permanent body that would focus on how to fight the growth of extremist groups in the EU. Europe has no choice: it must act now against those forces who blatantly disregard its core values, and it must do so before it is too late,” said WJC President Ronald S. Lauder.
The newly elected European Parliament, whose members were elected directly by the citizens in the 28 EU member states in the May elections, gathered for the first time this week in plenary session in Strasbourg.
The May elections saw a significantly increased number of candidates from extremist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic parties being elected last May.
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