European Jewish Association Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin and Senior Advisory Board Member and Chairman of the EJA Committee for combatting antisemitism Chief Rabbi Jacobs yesterday held a meeting with European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides.
In a frank and honest exchange of views, the Rabbis expressed their gratitude for statements against antisemitism but said that nowhere near enough was being done by the European Commission to defend the fundamental right of Freedom of Religion. The EJA Senior representatives pointed to the recent Belgian and Polish political initiatives that seek to limit access to Kosher meat as evidence of a lack of impetus by the EU Institutions to defending freedom of religion from political interference.
The EJA thanked the Commissioner for her time, and will continue our efforts in ensuring that the college of commissioners are fully appraised of the challenges not only faced by antisemitism but by repeated initiatives that seek to ban or severely impact fundamentals of Jewish faith and practice. We were reassured by Madame Commissioner that the Commission is fully committed to ensuring freedom of religion.