More than 30 members of the European Parliament support the appeal by the European Jewish Association (EJA) and its subsidiary organisations to the European Commission to establish an EU Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. on the model of what exists in the United States.

In a letter to Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, in light of the recent resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe, the MEPs wrote : ‘’We feel duty-bound to speak out against the threat to our European values of tolerance and respect for all nations, ethnicities and religious denominations which a form part of our common society.’’

They added : ‘’In the name of the values which we were elected to uphold, we willingly add our name to the EJA calls to the European Commission to create a full-time Special Envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, because, as you yourself, First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, said: “If there is no future for Jews in Europe, there is no future for Europe.’’

‘’It is our task to ensure that every single person who belong to this continent, whether he (or she) is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, Buddhist…, for everyone there should be a place and a feeling of belonging and a feeling of safety.”

and taking account the precedent set by the US with its own Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, a role currently occupied by Ira Froman.

According to EJA General Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin, ‘’what we advocate is not simply an envoy to monitor levels of anti-Semitism, which can be addressed by improvements made to existing bodies and strructures, but for a position to be created that works across EU government, liaising with all relevant departments – whether education, interior or Justice Ministers- within national and EU-level administrations to assess the extent of the problem and to work on strategies and policies to combat this phenomenon.’’

He insisted that European governments ‘’have a duty to protect all European citizens, religious minorities included, and it is essential that recent increases to security detail around Jewish institutions and neighbourhoods be sustained in the long term to reflect the severity of the problem we, together, face.’’

But he stressed that the solution ‘’doesn’t lie in security alone.’’

‘’In order that Europe takes the leading role it should in confronting the danger of anti-Semitism and stands united with the communities that form a part of the multi-cultural Europe we aspire to maintain, we must ensure we have an accurate assessment of the scope of the problem and continue to take a proactive approach to combating it. This is why we strongly recommend you consider the appointment of a dedicated EU Special Envoy on Monitoring and Combating AntiSemitism.’’

The US has already since its own Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, a role currently occupied by Ira Forman who is charged with advancing America’s policies to combat antiSemitism.. The position was created as part of the State Department and is directly appointed by President Barack Obama.

A May 2014 report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) compounded reports of a surge in anti-Semitism across Euroope, as its wide-scale global survey of citizens from countries with a total population of 4.1 billion found that anti-Semitic attitudes hit an average of 24% in Western Europe and 34% in Eastern Europe.

More worrying still, those figures rose to 37% in France, home to the EU’s largest Jewish community. According to the findings of the survey, the total number of individuals harbouring anti-Semitic attitudes stands at a staggering 1.09 billion citizens world-wide.

According to recently-released data by the Pew Research Centre, anti-Semitism in Europe reached a seven-year high by the end of 2013, with 34 out of Europe’s 45 countries reporting harassment of Jews by individuals or social groups.

It equates to 76% of European countries showing levels of anti-Semitism – higher than any other region globally, according to the report’s findings. ‘’This is particularly worrying for a minority group that represents just 0.2% of the world’s population,’’ says the European Jewish Association.

For EJA, ‘’It goes without saying that attitudes breed action,'' ''In the first months of 2015, we have seen a further threat to the safety of minority groups, and Europe’s citizens as a whole, with violent attacks such as those on Charlie Hebdo and at the Hypercacher kosher supermarket in Paris, resulting in a total of 19 deaths in three days alone, as well as the attacks on the Copenhagen café and Great Synagogue responsible for the deaths of two further Europeans.''