The inauguration took place in the building of the European Parliament
The inaugural meeting of the 120 elected members of the first ever European Jewish Parliament (EJP), described as a new and innovative forum to voice the thoughts, beliefs and ideas as well as concerns of European Jews, took place on Thursday at the European Parliament building in Brussels.
The
Parliament members, who represent 47 countries, have been elected by
over 400,000 people from East, Central and Western Europe who voted
online and showed an unprecedented interest and demand across
the continent for a new, fresh, up-to-date, transparent and
democratically elected organization in Europe, says the European Jewish
Union (EJU), the organization which initiated the creation of this
parliament.
Among
the elected MEJPs are several well-known leading figures of European
Jewry such as Pierre Besnainou from France, Cefi Jozef Camhi from
Turkey, Nathan Gelbart from Germany, Oliver Mischon from the UK, Joel
Rubinfeld from Belgium, as well as an important number of young emerging
personalities and leaders.
In
her opening address to the inaugural meeting on behalf of the European
Parliament, Bulgarian MEP Antonyia Parvanova hailed this "historic
meeting" and said it "will mark the future of the Jews in Europe and
beyond”.
“I
am proud and honoured to be in front of all of you today. For the first
time, we have here gathered in this room the representatives of
organizations representing more than 3.5 millions Jewish citizens across our continent,” she said.
She continued: “For the first time in history, the European Jewish people is coming today as one man or I should say as one assembly standing for one cause."
She
stressed that the new established European Jewish Parliament will be
"the voice representing and empowering the Jewish community in Europe."
"Debates
and discussions are always a driving force in family and there can be
sometime differences of opinion. But I am confident that the European
Jewish Parliament will be a strong voice which will contribute
positively to the European development."
She
ended her speech with a traditional Jewish blessing. “I light the
candle, symbol of peace. I light the candle of this assembly and of the
first session of the European Jewish Parliament” and with the Hebrew
words “Mazal Tov” (Good Luck).
Tomer
Orni, CEO of the European Jewish Union (EJU), the organization which
initiated the founding of the new parliament, declared: "The vision of a
European Jewish Parliament is now a reality. This
is an historic event as the new parliament is a major milestone for
Jewish representation in Europe. We are deeply convinced that
the parliament will be a positive force in meeting the changing
conditions and big challenges the European Jewry is facing."
The members of the parliament are individuals with various backgrounds who are respected in various Jewish communities. Their common denominator is their Jewish identity and passion for furthering Jewish interests on an international scale.
"The
fact that the European Jewish Parliament gathers in the same building
as the European Parliament, the directly elected parliamentary
institution of the European Union (EU), is "more
than symbolic," said Joel Rubinfeld from Belgium, a former president of
the umbrella group of Belgian Jewish organizations, who
was chosen to co-chair the new parliament together with Vadim
Rabinovich, EJU Vice-President. They will lead the works towards the
Parliament's first General Assembly scheduled for April.
Rubinfeld stressed
that the challenges “which concern nothing less than the future and the
place of more than 3 million European Jews in their respective
countries are huge.”
He
mentioned anti-Semitism, the delegitimization of Israel but also the
promotion of Jewish values and opening to other communities among these
challenges.
“But after today’s meeting, I am confident that we can meet these challenges,” he said.
“But after today’s meeting, I am confident that we can meet these challenges,” he said.
The
idea of a European Jewish Parliament was first advanced by Israeli
President Shimon Peres who predicted the success of this new structure.
The Parliament is headquartered in Brussels where the annual General Assemblies will be held.
A Parliament Constitution will be prepared during the first year.
The
inauguration of the European Jewish Parliament coincided with the visit
to Brussels of a delegation of 40 leading members of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations led by Chairman
Richard Stone and Executive Vice Chairman, Malcolm Hoenlein.
The delegation held talks with EU, NATO and Belgian officials, and discussed issues such as anti-Semitism in Europe, Iran and Syria.
European
and American Jewish community leaders joined the members of the
European Jewish Parliament to celebrate together the launch of the new
body at a gala dinner Thursday night in the presence of German MEP Elmar
Brok, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign
Affairs.
The list of the members of the European Jewish Parliament was published on the EJU website www.eju.org
2 comMENTS:
They already had the World Jewish Congress! So we have yet another pack of unelected bureaucrats separating us from our money, telling us what we can and cannot say or write, writing legislation for the "actual governments," advising law enforcement on who to look out for, dictating policy, etc.
You have right mate.Fast and for sure the White Race will be less then 4% in 30-40 years...Thanks to jewish laws,race traitors etc
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