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French President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) with Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko.
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BRUSSELS (EJP)---A Jewish group has urged the European Union to condition any agreement aimed at deepening its relations with Ukraine with practical measures against constantly increasing anti-Semitism in this country.
Ahead of an EU-Ukraine summit meeting in Paris, France, the Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE), a Brussels-based organization assisting more than 600 rabbis across Europe, stressed on Monday that in contrast to most European countries affected with various degrees of anti-Semitic incidents, “in Ukraine these incidents have become a matter of routine.”
“Ukraine is a country in which anti-Semitic declarations are voiced frequently, this assuming part of the national revival of a country that shamelessly makes Jews a target of anti-Semitic affronts,” the RCE said.
The rabbinical organization called upon the leaders of the European Union, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who heads the EU Council, “to condition the partnership of Ukraine with the EU with the eradication of anti-Semitism in this country and with taking immediate and practical measures to carry this out.”
The RCE added: “This ought to be included with the other conditions placed by the European Union for the inclusion of Ukraine in the organization. It is unheard of that a country where anti-Semitism is almost official may be considered a partner to the Western block.”
At the EU-Ukraine summit, the EU will be represented by President Sarkozy, European Commission president José-Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. The Ukrainian delegation will be led by President Victor Yushchenko.
The RCE also called upon the prerequisite of “illegitimating anti-Semitism as a permanent condition for the admission of any country to the EU.”
he group has ordered a report issued by the Tel Aviv University’s Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism covering the anti-Semitic incidents which occurred in Ukraine throughout 2008.
Earlier this year, the Council of Europe in Strasbourg issued a report expressing concern about growing racially motivated attacks in Ukraine and especially about attacks against rabbis and Jewish students, as well as the vandalism of synagogues, cemeteries and cultural centres.
Around 180,000 Jews live today in Ukraine.