BRUSSELS (EJP)--- Experts from the European Union and Israel met Thursday in Brussels to exchange experiences on combating racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

The one-day seminar, which took place at the European Commission headquarters, was organized in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).

Under the ENP EU-Israel Action Plan endorsed in 2005, the European Union and Israel agreed to work together to combat anti-Semitism as well as racism and xenophobia.

The seminar examined policies and best practice on combating racism in the European Union and in Israel.

It looked at how statistics are collected, how anti-discrimination policies are put in place and how mutual understanding can be fostered.

Sessions were also devoted to fighting racism through education, how penal legislation can be used to treat racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism as a crime and how to combat hate speech in the media.

The European experts came both from the European Commission and from the Member States of the European Union.

Cooperation strenghtened

The European Executive Commission last week today tabled proposals on new ways to strengthen the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).
External Relations European Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has declared: “I believe that our Neighbourhood Policy is bringing real benefits to Israel and today we are offering to the country even more attractive incentives. They will bring the policy into sharper focus, concentrating on key areas of mutual interest like people to people contacts, deepening economic and trade relations and stronger cooperation on energy and transport”.

EU-Israel cooperation has developed in the areas of political dialogue, anti-terrorism, promotion of trade and investment, justice and security, science and technology including space cooperation, as well as higher education.

Technical workshops have been organized on a large number of specific subjects relating, for example, to preventing terrorist financing, promoting judicial and police cooperation and protecting the environment.