On October 11th the EJC President Pierre Besnainou met with leaders from the major political parties in the European Parliament in Brussels to discuss exciting developments in Europe’s only democratically elected body.
Meetings were held with the leaders of the two largest parties in the parliament, namely, Prof. Dr. Hans-Gert Poettering, Chairman of the Group of the European People’s Party and European Democrats (EPP-ED) as well as with Martin Schulz, chairman of the Socialist group. The EPP-ED is the majority group in the parliament, while the Socialists are the second largest grouping.
President Besnainou called on Chairman Poettering to work with the European Parliament towards pushing Arab states to normalize relations with Israel, in light of the recent disengagement from the Gaza Strip. He also informed Chairman Schulz of the worrying recent moves by some European Non-Governmental Organizations to push for a Europe-wide boycott of Israel.
President Besnainou then met Elmar Brok, European Parliament Chairman of Committee on Foreign affairs, European Parliament to discuss EU-Israel relations, and the rise of far-right extremism in EU candidate countries. The EJC also brought up the Chief Rabbi of Moscow’s recent denial of entry to Russia.
