European Commission Press release Brussels, 30 Dec 2020 The EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated to assist Croatia in the aftermath of a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, following a request for assistance from Croatian authorities on 29 December

… Diesen. “We sincerely thank the European Union for partnering to deliver vital … Copenhagen. The European Union partners with UNICEF to ensure that EU-funded humanitarian … solidarity package, mobilised by the European Union for the Central Asia region …

On behalf of the European Union, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission signed this morning the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement. This agreement will now be brought to the United Kingdom to be signed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, before being provisionally applied as of 1 January 2021.

The agreement that we signed today is the result of months of intense negotiations in which the European Union has displayed an unprecedented level of unity. It is a fair and balanced agreement that fully protects the fundamental interests of the European Union and creates stability and predictability for citizens and companies.
Charles Michel, President of the European Council

This agreement will then be examined by the European Parliament and the Council, before it can be ratified by the European Union.

In this context, it is of the utmost importance for the European Union and the United Kingdom to look forward, in view of opening a new chapter in their relations.

Charles Michel, President of the European Council: “On major issues, the European Union stands ready to work shoulder to shoulder with the United Kingdom. This will be the case on climate change, ahead of the COP 26 in Glasgow, and on the global response to pandemics, in particular with a possible treaty on pandemics. On foreign affairs, we will seek cooperation on specific issues based on shared values and interests.

These are major issues that will have to be discussed on a regular basis, like we do with our strategic partners, and I am looking forward to such a cooperation.“

Members of the Standing Committee on European Integration of the National Assembly of Armenia, under the leadership of Chair of the Committee Arman Yeghoyan, had a meeting with Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin.

The participants of the meeting discussed a broad range of issues on cooperation, particularly the prospects for the Armenia-EU cooperation, the situation created as a result of the war unleashed against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the developments and the opportunities to solve the social and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wiktorin stated that the European Union is currently implementing various programs through the EU-backed Rapid Reaction Mechanism in order to provide support to families displaced from Artsakh.

Wiktorin reaffirmed the EU’s willingness to assist Armenia in the implementation of reforms and, in this context, informed about the importance of the EUR 9,000,000 grant disbursed to the Government of Armenia for support to reforms in the justice sector, as well as the additional EUR 24,000,000 grant disbursed to Armenia for support to the fight against COVID-19.

With satisfaction, the parties stated that the ratification by the 27 member states of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement has drawn to an end.

Jews in Europe face new restrictions on religious freedom, says rabbi 

Over the course of a single summer in 2020, Jewish graves in Worms, Germany, were vandalised, an Austrian Jew was attacked in the street and a calendar published in the Czech Republic that glorified Nazi leaders. It came in a year during which Europe and the world marked 75 years since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.

Meanwhile, Belgium, Denmark and Poland have either proposed bans or actually banned ritual slaughter, the method by which millions of Jews and Muslims in Europe require their meat to be killed. In Iceland, Denmark and Norway, a furore has erupted over circumcision, with critics arguing that the practice is inhumane and should be banned for those under the age of 18.

“It is very frustrating, there is no question,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin, president of the European Jewish Association, told Euronews from his office in Brussels.

“You just think, […] why do we have to [do this] again […]. Three weeks ago it was the circumcision issue in Belgium […]. Two weeks ago it was circumcision in Denmark, this week it is ritual slaughter in Poland, I mean what is next?”

Kosher meat

Poland’s ban on kosher meat was pushed through by the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS) earlier in September against the objections of its two minority coalition partners, potentially bringing down the Polish government and paving the way for new elections.

The ban on kosher meat was part of a wide-ranging law on animal welfare, which will similarly outlaw Muslim halal slaughter and the production of fur. It is currently in a 14-day review period, but the fact that the PiS was willing to let its coalition collapse to pass it suggests it could stand.

Read more: ‘It’s a knife in our backs’: Confusion and anger in Poland over law on religious slaughter

Speaking to Euronews last week when the law was passed, Margolin told Euronews that the campaign for the animal welfare law had distinct antisemitic overtones, presenting the supporters of the law as “good Polish citizens” and its opponents, among them the Jewish community, as bad. But there will also be a practical impact on Europe’s Jewish community.

“Limiting the export of kosher meat from Poland will immediately impact Jewish people from all over Europe because many Jewish people from Europe consume kosher meat coming from Poland,” he said.

Margolin is keen to make the distinction between antisemitism, on the one hand, and a lack of respect for Europe’s religious minorities, including Jews, on the other. Being attacked in the street, he said, is unpleasant, but it is a crime and should be treated as such. The slow chipping away of religious freedoms is the bigger threat to Europe’s three million Jews, he said.

“Of course, governments have to be very tough with people who commit crimes against Jews. But much more important is to take care of the long term: education and a strong commitment to ensuring freedom of religion,” he said.

Key to beating both, he said, is education. As the events of the Holocaust, when six million European Jews died in the death camps of Europe, recede in the memory of Europeans, as the generation that remembers fascism in Europe is dying out, the history of Europe’s Jews must be made part of the curriculum in every school in every European state.

“Antisemitism is a very old disease. If you want to fight against anti-Semitism you have to educate,” he said.

‘Ignorance is an open door for populists’

“We have been pushing European governments to update the curriculum [to] include more information about the Jews, their customs, their history, the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, these are things that Europe has faced for two millennia. Every child needs to learn about that,” Margolin said.

Ignorance, he added, is “an open door” for the populist movements of both right and left, and it is from the right, left and the political centre that antisemitism is coming. He is reluctant to name and shame but said centrist parties have noticed the success that the far right and left have had using hatred to win votes, and are now adopting similar tactics.

“What we see is that mainstream political parties do not take the right direction in order to fight the extremists, they adapt themselves to part of that agenda, which is very dangerous,” he said.

“I prefer not to attack anyone in particular. It is a phenomenon that is all over Europe. All over the world. But when it comes to the Jewish situation it is a dangerous direction.”