By Yossi Lempkowicz
European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor, who will seek Wednesday re-election for a 4-year term, believes the issues addressed by the pan-European Jewish body should not be limited to the 27 EU countries.
In an interview with EJP ahead of the election, Russian Moshe Kantor reacted to statements made recently by his rival from France, Roger Cukierman, that “the voice of the Jews in Europe cannot be heard if the EJC president doesn’t have the citizenship of one of the 27 EU member states.”
“The issues we are addressing are pan-European and should not be limited to the EU countries only. I oppose creating a two-tier system in the EJC where over a third of the member communities would not have full rights according to this criterion” Kantor said.
The Paris-based European Jewish Congress is the secular umbrella organization for 44 Jewish communities across Europe.
72-year-old Roger Cukierman, a former president of the Edmond de Rothschild financial group who headed CRIF, the umbrella body of French Jewish organizations, from 2001 until 2007, announced last month that he was challenging Kantor for the top EJC position.
“All EJC communities are equally important, whether they are Eastern or Western Europe , large or small. We are all one family and must respect each other, regardless of where in Europe we hail from” Kantor stressed. “Our unity is our strength” he added.
Kantor said that as EJC president “I invest 80 % of my time in the organization, in addition to a significant investment of funds to unable the unprecedented activity that is taking place today in the EJC,” in response to Cukierman’s argument that a businessman like Kantor cannot devote full-time to the EJC.
“I don’t work alone, we work as a team, together with my colleagues, presidents of affiliated-communities, members of the Executive and with seasoned high-level professionals we’ve hired” Kantor said.
If re-elected, he said he would continue to address the current challenges, including the future of Jewish life in Europe, the dangerous rise in anti-Semitism and racism in Europe, the Iranian threat and terrorism, and strengthening European support of Israel.
“We are facing a challenging year in 2009. The economic crisis will affect the world severely. Who can predict what will be the implications on Jewish life in the world in Europe specifically ? We need to get started, prepare and plan in advance for the upcoming years” Kantor said.
An extraordinary general assembly of 85 representative from 40 European Jewish communities will elect the EJC president and executive for a 4-year-term.
The number of votes for each country is proportional to its Jewish population. The largest communities are France (13 votes), Russia (7), UK (6), Ukraine (3), and Germany (3).
The vote is likely to be tight and will probably depend on the speeches of both candidates at the general assembly. “There is a lot of uncertainty, several representatives are hesitating” one source told EJP.
The 55-year-old Kantor was elected president in June 2007 when he succeeded Frenchman Pierre Besnainou.
It was the first time that a representative from an Eastern European country was elected to head the EJC. The precedent presidents were either from France, Germany, Britain or Italy.
At the end of 2007, France, Germany, Austria and Portugal, suspended their membership in the EJC after an extraordinary general assembly modified its constitution and extended term limits of Kantor’s presidency from 2 to 4 years.
They later returned to the body after being assured that a new vote would be organized after two years.
This week’s early election is meant as a “gesture of goodwill” towards these countries, an EJC official told EJP.
A prominent public figure, philanthropist and industrialist, Moshe Kantor is founder and president of the World Holocaust Forum Foundation, an international organization dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust.
He is also president of the Russian Jewish Congress.
The European Jewish Congress was founded in 1986 as the European branch of the World Jewish Congress (WJC).
