European Jewish Parliament Inaugurated
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 those present at the event were: Rabbi Moshe Asman, Chabad Shliach to Kyiv and Chief Rabbi of Ukraine; Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky, Chabad Shliach and Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine; Rabbi Zeev Raskin, Chabad Shliach to Cyprus; Rabbi Yoel Kaplan, Chabad Shliach and Chief Rabbi of the Balkans; Rabbis Levi Matusof and Menachem Margolin, Chabad Shluchim to the European Union Complex in Brussels, Belgium.
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.
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, and a friend of Rabbi Asman from Kyiv.
They will lead the works towards the Parliament’s first General Assembly scheduled for April. The Parliament is headquartered in Brussels where the annual General Assemblies will be held. A Parliament Constitution will be prepared during the first year.