BRUSSELS (AFP) ― The EU faces a “huge challenge” to reassure Jews about their future in Europe after Islamist attacks in Paris, a top official said Wednesday as it discussed fresh counter-terror measures.
European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said the 28-nation bloc was determined to respond in keeping with its core values of tolerance and inclusion, promising a new strategy would be ready by May.
“Today we see in some of our member states that a majority of the Jewish community is not sure that they have a future in Europe,” he said.
“I think this is a huge challenge to the very foundation of European integration,” he added.
It is a “fundamental value” that everyone has a place in Europe no matter what his or her creed or background is.
The Commission will do everything to develop a “strategy that offers hope and prospects for everyone in Europe,” he said.
“Whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Christian or atheist, everybody has a place in this society,” he added.
In France, home to Europe‘s largest Jewish community, estimated at up to 600,000, many are considering leaving as the number of anti-Semitic attacks mounts.
An Islamist gunmen shot dead a policewoman and then four Jews in a kosher supermarket in the French capital on Jan. 9 before he was killed by police.
An earlier attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine left 12 dead, sparking a huge outpouring of grief and defiance.
Timmermans said the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, would work especially hard to meet the European Parliament concerns over data protection, which have held up agreement on an air passenger tracking system.
Many member states back use of the Passenger Name Record system as an essential tool to track suspected “foreign fighters” but lawmakers have held up an EU-wide system for years.
Timmermans said the Commission would “see if we can change our proposal to meet these concerns,” stressing that Europe had to been seen as “taking its job seriously” in countering the militant threat.
At the same time, security remains the responsibility of member states and the European Union‘s role is to “assist them, support them so that jointly they can (meet) that responsibility.”
