Rabbi Avi Tawil, speaking at the European Parliament, working meeting "Fundamental Rights of Religious and Spiritual Minorities in European Union". Photo credit: 2023 www.bxl-media.com
Speaking passionately at the European Parliament last Thursday, Rabbi Avi Tawil drew urgent attention to the long history of anti-Semitic hate crimes targeting visibly Jewish children across the continent. He traced Judaism’s deep roots in Europe spanning millennia and appealed for unity and understanding between different religions to realize the promise of an inclusive European society.
“Today, especially after 7th October, but already for many, many, many years. Children in the streets of Europe if they choose, or their parents allow them, or just that they walk with the kippa in the streets or they come out of a Jewish school. And there is a great deal. These kids grow up with a trauma of insults and abuse. This is something common,” explained Tawil, director of the European Jewish Community Centre, a non-profit promoting Jewish culture.
MEP Maxette Pirbakas, who organized the meeting, addressed leaders of religious minorities in Europe, at the European Parliament. Photo credit: 2023 www.bxl-media.com
While stressing that fundamental rights belong to all communities, Tawil warned that Jewish Europeans are often still viewed as not fully European. “Jews across Europe paid full price and a very expensive price to have 2000 years or more of history in these lands,” he remarked, tracing Jewish contributions to shaping European civilization since ancient times.
Yet Tawil found reason for optimism in the very gathering where he spoke. The event at the European Parliament titled “Fundamental Rights of Religious and Spiritual Minorities in the EU” was organized by French MEP Maxette Pirbakas and brought together Catholic, Protestant, Muslim Baha’is, Scientologists, Hindus and other faith leaders.
Au @Europarl_FR, j'ai réuni des représentants de religions minoritaires pour débattre et enrichir nos réflexions sur la nécessaire protection par l'UE de toutes les formes de spiritualité au-delà des racourcis et des caricatures. Notre diversité doit être célébrée, non entravée. pic.twitter.com/yhzp30EUz3
“We were discussing and learning together and it made me very hopeful. These moments of sharing, these moments, these special moments that we can actually understand that we are all part of this European project,” Tawil commented.
In his view, defending rights for all spiritual minorities is essential for realizing the unifying promise of Europe. “If we have the same determination, we know what our values are, we know how we have to stand strong for each other, for each other’s freedoms, we can for sure make an impact,” he appealed in closing.
Tawil called for faith communities to come together in solidarity and bless Europe with “the determination to defend these important fundamental rights for every single person, every single citizen in this beautiful Europe.”
Willy Fautré, speaking at the European Parliament about how media often persecutes minority faiths. Photo credit: www.bxl-media.com
“The media, thriving on sensationalism rather than facts, seize on the cult issue as a good topic because that boosts the sales or the audience,” said Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers, in a hard-hitting speech delivered last Thursday at the European Parliament.
Fautré ‘s remarks came during a working conference titled “Fundamental Rights of Religious and Spiritual Minorities in the EU,” held last November 30th by French MEP Maxette Pirbakas with leaders of different minority faith groups.
MEP Maxette Pirbakas, who organized the meeting, addressed leaders of religious minorities in Europe, at the European Parliament. Photo credit: 2023 www.bxl-media.com
Fautré accused European media outlets of being complicit in fostering religious intolerance that has led to discrimination, vandalism and even violence against minority faith groups, even against some global minorities like Scientology or Jehovah’s Witnesses, which have been repeatedly recognized as religious or belief communities by the European Court of Human Rights, OSCE and even the United Nations in their rulings or declarations.
While international bodies use neutral language when referring to religious groups, Fautré explained, media in Europe often categorize certain movements as “cults” or “sects”—terms carrying an inherent negative bias. This intolerant and artificial labelling is pushed by anti-religious people, who call themselves “anti-cultists,” including aggrieved former members, activists, and associations that want to exclude these minority religious groups from legal protection.
The media fans the flames, according to Fautré. “Unfounded accusations amplified by the media not only influence public opinion but reinforce stereotypes. They also shape the ideas of political decision-makers, and they may be officially endorsed by some democratic states and their institutions,” increasing thus the violations of fundamental rights based on religion, infringing freedom of thought.
As evidence, Fautré pointed to sensationalist coverage hyping a pitifully small anti-religious protest in the UK, as well as Belgian outlets spreading false allegations from a Belgian state institution report claiming abuse cover-ups among Jehovah’s Witnesses. In reality, a court recently condemned the report as unfounded and defamatory.
Such factually distorted reporting has real-world consequences, warned Fautré. “They send a signal of distrust, threat, and danger, and create a climate of suspicion, intolerance, hostility and hatred in society,” he said. Fautré connected this directly to incidents like the vandalization of Jehovah’s Witness buildings across Italy to the deadly shooting of seven of their worshippers in Germany.
In conclusion, Fautré issued demands for change, stating that European media must abide by ethical journalism standards when covering religious issues. He also called for training workshops to help reporters appropriately cover minority faiths without fueling public hostility against them. If no reforms are made, Europe risks being exposed as hypocritical for preaching tolerance abroad while allowing persecution in its own backyard.
Brussels – On Monday, members of the European Parliament will convene counterparts from EU member states to review rule of law safeguards across the bloc.
The gathering occurs as concerns mount over democratic backsliding in certain European countries. It will “discuss the state of the rule of law in the EU,” according to the parliament’s civil liberties committee, which is organizing the meeting.
Included on the agenda are presentations from Belgian, Danish, German, Greek, Irish, and Spanish lawmakers. European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders will also provide remarks via video message.
“The first session will focus on the Commission’s annual Rule of Law report assessing the situation across the EU, and the European Parliament’s analysis,” organizers outlined.
Sophie In ‘t Veld, the parliament’s rule of law monitoring group chair, will discuss recent developments. She serves as rapporteur on the Commission’s latest annual report on adherence to EU values.
Academic experts, Council of Europe officials, and transparency advocates will join the second panel discussion on anti-corruption efforts.
The gathering comes the same year rule of law conditionality took effect, allowing the suspension of EU funds over breaches of democratic principles and judicial independence. However, the mechanism’s deployment remains a politically sensitive matter.
Monday’s parliamentary summit will zero in on five countries for “specific evaluation,” according to documents. But organizers did not specify the member states under review.
With Budapest resisting EU calls for reform, and Poland accused of backsliding on judicial independence, the state of the rule of law promises to remain a complex, high-stakes balancing act for EU officials. This week’s “health check-in” meeting reflects intensifying efforts to safeguard democratic norms.
Brussels – Negotiations between the European Parliament and EU member states on enhancing sanctions enforcement broke down Thursday evening without agreement. Parliament lawmakers expressed frustration, arguing quicker progress is needed to close loopholes aiding Russia.
“The effectiveness of the EU sanctions regime is severely undermined by the patchwork of national legal systems, and by uneven and weak enforcement,” said the parliament negotiating team in a statement.
They contend that sanctioned Russian individuals and entities are still able to travel and do business in parts of the EU. Funds also continue flowing to Russia due to uneven enforcement.
The disputed legislation would standardize penalties across the EU for violating Russia sanctions. But the talks hit an impasse over certain provisions.
“Each day that passes helps Putin’s war efforts,” the parliament team argued. “We therefore call on the Council to reconsider its position, and to resume talks as soon as possible.”
Lead negotiator Sophie In ‘t Veld said “[t]he European Parliament believes the violation of sanctions must be criminalised, enforcement of sanctions must be improved, and forum shopping for the weakest national system must end.”
The parliament statements indicate a view that EU sanctions against Russian elites need sharper teeth. But bridging the divide with member states on enforcement mechanisms remains an ongoing challenge.
With the Ukraine invasion soon to enter its second year, the parliament team stated they “stand ready to continue the talks and find agreement on the outstanding issues” around restricting Russian finances. But the stalled talks so far point to lingering obstacles.
Brussels – European Union lawmakers made progress this week towards mandating stronger cybersecurity measures for internet-connected devices used by millions of Europeans daily.
On Thursday evening, the European Parliament and European Council struck an informal agreement on the Cyber Resilience Act, proposed legislation that aims to secure digital products against cyberattacks. The bill would require makers of products with digital features to ensure they are resilient against hackers, provide transparency around their security, and issue regular software updates.
“The Cyber Resilience Act will strengthen the cybersecurity of connected products, tackling vulnerabilities in hardware and software alike, making the EU a safer and more resilient continent,” said Nicola Danti, the lead MEP negotiating the bill.
The law would designate certain product categories based on their criticality and cyber risk. Items like biometric readers, smart home assistants, and private security cameras would join the list under parliament’s amendments.
For covered devices, security patches would have to be installed automatically without user action “when technically feasible,” according to negotiators. The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) would also take on an expanded role in informing member states of widespread vulnerabilities.
Danti said the bill balances security and innovation by supporting small businesses and open source developers. “Only together will we be able to tackle successfully the cybersecurity emergency that awaits us in the coming years,” he warned.
The provisional Cyber Resilience Act deal still requires formal approval. But its architects hope sturdier digital product mandates can help Europeans avoid cyber headaches, as connected devices continue proliferating through daily life.
Last week, a study by the international organization “ICOMOS Macedonia” was presented in North Macedonia, dedicated to the state of churches and monasteries in the country. The study of 707 churches by experts is within the framework of the project “Monitoring the Orthodox Cultural Heritage”. It has shown the current state of all the temples, the risks they face, specific advice for overcoming the problems has been identified.
“Monitoring of the Orthodox Cultural Heritage” is a project implemented by the National Committee of the International Council for Monuments and Sites ICOMOS Macedonia. It is an extensive project aimed at monitoring and assessing the state of preservation, conservation and protection of immovable Orthodox cultural heritage in St. Macedonia and is fully supported by the US State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center as part of its Community Heritage Documentation Initiative. The project is implemented in partnership with the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archdiocese.
In the past year, expert teams of this organization visited and assessed the condition of church buildings in all eight dioceses in the country, and for each building a detailed report was published on where it is located, when and by whom it was built, as well as in what condition it is in.
For example, for the temple “St. Andrei” near Matka (14th century) is said to be threatened by the flow of water inside: “On its western side, the church borders the mountain slope, which is in close proximity to the building. When it rains, water flows inside the building, creating problems related to capillary damp in the interior itself… Due to the presence of moisture and inadequate furnishings, there is a risk of damage to the interior.”
For the country’s most famous church, Hagia Sophia in Ohrid, the report says that the building is being damaged by vegetation that is not being removed: “The wooden brackets of the exonarthex are visibly damaged, there are parts of the joints that have been damaged on all sides of the church, there is vegetation on the walls and roof.”
About the monastery “St. Naum” experts warn the chairs placed in the nave for believers not to touch the frescoes because they destroy them. “It is necessary to separate the chairs from the murals and, if possible, remove certain chairs. The metal (sheet metal) canopy should also be removed and a more suitable solution found for the candle-lighting area,” the recommendation reads.
The famous church “St. John the Theologian Kaneo” on the shore of Lake Ohrid is warned of a damaged installation: “The interior has outdated electrical installation and lighting, as well as inappropriate brackets above the west entrance of the church.”
Experts recommend lighting candles inside the monastery “St. Joakim Osogovski” in Kriva palanka to be banned, by setting aside places for this purpose outside the church with the wall paintings.
A special warning was issued for the Skopje church “St. Dimitar”, north of the Vardar River, near the Stone Bridge. “On the north wall, in the central upper area, in the opening where the fan is placed, water is seen pouring in, which is having a damaging effect on the frescoes. There is slight damage to the capitals of the columns in the gallery. There is an intertwining of internal exposed installations, electrical, heating, cooling, and a possible fire hazard,” the report for this church building warns.
About the famous monastery “St. Gavriil Lesnovski” writes that the painting in the higher parts of the temple, i.e. in the nave directly under the dome space of the vaults, is almost completely irretrievably lost. “If the roof leaks, which are the main problem, are not stopped, there is a threat of the loss of other parts of the mural and the possible total loss of the murals or at least serious damage,” the post said.
In the monastery “St. Panteleimon” in Gorno Nerezi near Skopje, the four facade walls of the church show black vertical traces of lichen caused by the pouring of rainwater from the lead gutters, experts warn.
ICOMOS Macedonia is a multi-expert organization and is part of the Paris-based ICOMOS International Committee, which is the world’s largest expert non-governmental organization in the field of cultural heritage conservation.
The National Committee of the International Council for Monuments and Sites ICOMOS in Macedonia (abbreviated as ICOMOS Macedonia) is a member of the International Council for Monuments and Sites ICOMOS based in Paris. ICOMOS is the world’s largest professional non-governmental organization in the field of protection and conservation of cultural heritage. The focus of interest of ICOMOS is the promotion of the application of theory, methodology and scientific techniques for the conservation of architectural and archaeological heritage. Worldwide, ICOMOS counts close to 11,000 individual members in 151 countries; 300 institutional members; 110 national committees (including ICOMOS Macedonia) and there are 28 international scientific committees. More about ICOMOS Macedonia on the official website.
Photography: Monastery of St. Petka’ – Velgoshti/Ohrid, North Macedonia
Church of Saint Porphyrius in 2022, before the Israeli airstrike - By Dan Palraz - CC BY-SA 4.0,
Christian presence in peril, the majority of people of northern Gaza have been displaced as well as Christians, whose installations have also been targeted.
As the Israeli military advances further into Gaza City to eliminate Hamas, concerns are rising about the potential disappearance of Christians in the area amid a growing exodus of Gazans fleeing the northern territory, where innocent civilians have endured continuous Israeli bombardment for over a month.
Nashat Filmon, director of the Palestinian Bible Society, which serves Palestinians in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank, recently informedPremier Christian News that the majority of people in northern Gaza have experienced displacement and that Christians, whose facilities have also been targeted, have found no safe refuge.
“Their deaths made headlines across the globe,” the National Catholic Register stated in a November 15 article. However, the challenges faced by Gaza’s small Christian community have received limited attention, the article added, citing Israel’s intensified ground offensive in Gaza aimed at targeting Hamas fighters embedded in urban neighborhoods.
Gaza is currently home to some 1,100 Palestinian Christians, according to the Register article, which contained an interview with Samuel Tadros, a Middle East scholar who formerly was a senior fellow at the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
Asked how Palestinian Christians have been treated under the rule of Hamas in Gaza since the Islamist group came to power in 2007, Tadros replied that the community encounters institutional bias and harassment, besides enduring attacks on its institutions and businesses.
“Throughout the Middle East, we’ve seen how these Islamist movements treat Christians,” Tadros pointed out, adding: “They may not want to exterminate Christians completely, as the Islamic State sought to do, but even the most ‘moderate’ Islamist governments view non-Muslims living in Muslim-majority lands as second-class subjects and not as equal citizens.”
As Christians continue to leave Gaza, taking advantage of a U.S.-brokered deal that permits daily four-hour pauses in the war to enable civilians to escape, there are concerns “whether, in the long term, there will be any Christian community left,” said Tadros, a Coptic Christian who is the author of the 2013 book, Motherland Lost: The Egyptian and Coptic Quest for Modernity.
Filmon shares the same worry. “I pray that this place would never turn into a museum where you come and say, Oh, Christ lived here,” the Palestinian Bible Society’s director remarked, adding: “But he doesn’t have any followers. What a shame!”
The new rules will reduce air, water and soil pollution, and steer large agro-industrial installations in the green transition.
Late on Tuesday night, negotiators from the Parliament and Council reached a provisional political agreement on the revision of the industrial emission directive (IED) and the directive on the landfill of waste and the new regulation on the Industrial Emissions Portal. The aim is to further combat air, water and soil pollution from large agro-industrial installations, which can also lead to health problems such as asthma, bronchitis and cancer.
Industrial installations
The new rules will make it mandatory to set the strictest achievable emissions levels and push industrial plants to focus more on energy, water and material efficiency and reuse, in addition to fostering the use of safer, less toxic or non-toxic chemicals in industrial processes, through emission or environmental performance targets. To combat water scarcity, environmental performance targets will become obligatory for water consumption. For waste, resource efficiency, energy efficiency and raw material use such targets will be within a range and for new techniques, targets will be indicative.
Co-legislators agreed to extend the IED also to cover extractive industry installations (mines) and large installations manufacturing batteries.
Livestock farms
Co-legislators agree to extend IED measures to pig farms with more than 350 livestock units (LSU). Farms raising pigs in an extensive or organic manner, and outside for a significant amount of time in a year, are excluded. For poultry, it would apply to farms with laying hens with more than 300 LSU and for farms with broilers with more than 280 LSU. For farms rearing both pigs and poultry, the limit will be 380 LSU.
The Commission originally proposed a threshold of 150 LSU for all livestock, including for cattle. Co-legislators agreed to task the Commission to review, by 31 December 2026, the need for EU action to address the emissions from the rearing of livestock, including from cattle, as well as a reciprocity clause to ensure producers outside the EU meet requirements similar to EU rules when exporting to the EU.
Public participation, penalties and sanctions
Negotiators also agreed to increase transparency and public participation in relation to the licensing, operation and control of regulated installations. The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register will be transformed into an EU Industrial Emissions Portal where citizens can access data on all EU permits and local polluting activities. In addition, systems for e-permitting should be in place at the latest by 2035.
Non-complying companies can face penalties of at least 3% of the operator’s annual EU turnover for the most serious infringements and member states shall give citizens affected by non-compliance the right to claim compensation for damages to their health.
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After the vote, rapporteur Radan Kanev (EPP, Bulgaria), said: “I am happy about the overall outcome as Parliament defended the most important points in its mandate including significantly reducing emissions without creating further red tape for industries and farmers and as well as the level of penalties for non-complying companies.”
Next steps
The deal still has to be adopted by Parliament and Council, after which the new law will be published in the EU Official Journal and enter into force 20 days later. Member states will then have 22 months to comply with this directive.
Background
The industrial emission directive lays down rules on preventing and controlling pollution from large agro-industrial installations’ emissions into air, water and soil as well as generation of waste, use of raw materials, energy efficiency, noise and prevention of accidents. Installations covered by the rules are required to operate in accordance with a permit addressing the entire environmental performance of the plant.
This legislation is responding to citizens’ expectations concerning the polluter pays principle and speeding up the green transition and promoting greener production processes as expressed in proposals 2(2), 3(1), 11(1) and 12(5) of the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Ivan Arjona speaking at the European Parliament. Photo credit: www.bxl-media.com 2023
Speaking passionately last week at the European Parliament, Ivan Arjona, Scientology’s representative to European institutions, condemned worsening religious discrimination targeting his faith community specifically in Germany. He spoke at a conference bringing together Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Baha’is, Hindus and other minority faith leaders to discuss protecting their rights.
The event, titled “Fundamental Rights of Religious and Spiritual Minorities in the EU,” was hosted by French MEP Maxette Pirbakas and it convened leaders of diverse belief groups to share perspectives on challenges facing their communities across Europe.
In his hard-hitting remarks, Arjona revealed that in Germany, specifically in Bavaria, “to access a public job, [they] will ask you to sign a resignation from your religion.” Holding up documents, he showed that companies bidding on state contracts “need to sign a paper that [they] are not a Scientologist.”, even to clean bedsheets of hospitals or design city gardens. Already this year over 350 such discriminatory tenders have appeared in the EU transparency tenders website, as shown by Arjona at this meeting in the European Parliament.
He acknowledged that unlike current violent attacks against Jews and Muslims in Europe, present-day Scientologists do not face physical attacks, however, Arjona insisted that discriminating against any peaceful faith group contradicts EU principles of tolerance. “You would believe that after its history, a country like Germany, would not do this again, to ask people to resign from their religion… would you?” he asked pointedly.
In additional evidence of attempts to discourage interfaith solidarity, Arjona shared an example of a Jewish woman in Germany who runs a holocaust travelling exhibit, facing funding cuts simply for speaking at a Scientology event about shared values. Such retaliation for engagement between religions works against social cohesion, he warned, and the expecting living together in peace of citizens and religions.
Describing his own group’s efforts to assist Christians, Muslims, Jews, and other communities during the pandemic, Arjona explains that the Church of Scientology’s recognition as a religious community keeps growing including the latest recognition in Greece as a place of worship and in the Netherlands as a religious corporation of Public Benefit. He closed by praising examples of different religions supporting each other. “I believe we should all do the most possible efforts when state discrimination happens – stand by and say, you don’t discriminate me, you don’t discriminate them,” he appealed. Arjona called for a united stand against all policies dividing faith groups.
It costs just one dollar to ride a Singaporean bus, but $296 to sleep on it
Bus Collective is the first resort hotel in Southeast Asia to convert decommissioned public buses into luxury hotel rooms.
The project refurbished 20 buses that were once owned by SBS Transit, Singapore’s public transport operator, giving them a new purpose in the hospitality sector.
The resort hotel officially opens on December 1, and reservations are now available on its website.
The Bus Collective is located in Singapore’s Changi Village and is spread over an area of 8,600 sq m. The resort is close to attractions such as the Hawker Centre, Changi East Walk and Changi Chapel and Museum.
The complex offers seven different room categories, each with different amenities. Nightly rates start at S$398 ($296), and some of the rooms even have bathtubs and king-size beds.
Among the different room types, the Pioneer North room has handrails in the toilet and shower area, built to meet the needs of older guests, a representative of the resort told CNBC.
Each room covers 45 square meters and can accommodate three to four guests, according to the resort’s website. Although these retired buses have been completely refurbished, some features such as the steering wheel, driver’s seat and windows have been retained.
WTS Travel and partners wanted to show how tourism, nature and environmental protection can come together and be a “catalyst for creating unique and exciting new experiences,” Meeker Sia, managing director of WTS Travel, told CNBC.
Although The Bus Collective currently operates only in Singapore, Sia says the company may expand its reach in the future.
“We’re definitely open to exploring new opportunities for growth and innovation in the future, and we think the project has the potential to appeal to consumers elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region,” says Xia.
Alternatively, the Hamilton Place room is designed to be wheelchair accessible, equipped with an external accessible toilet and a ramp leading to the room entrance.
