First ever European Jewish Manifesto launched in front of Jewish communal representatives

The European Jewish Manifesto was officially unveiled on Sunday at the Board of Deputies’ Plenary meeting. The Manifesto is the first ever produced specifically for the European Jewish community. It provides information for MEP candidates, so they are fully informed of the community’s European concerns. All 280 Deputies who serve on the Board will receive a copy.

The Board has coordinated the document with UK and European Jewish group partners. Our communal partners, including the European Jewish Congress, will use the Manifesto as the basis for their own lobbying ahead of this May’s European Elections.

We hope that this document will greatly help to ‘get the vote out’ amongst the Jewish community - and to negate the influence of the far right. A high voter turnout is important to ensure extremist parties do not make ground in elections.

The 15 page document covers four areas: Religious Freedoms, including religious observance in the workplace and human rights; Extremism and Anti-Semitism in Europe, including fighting racism and promoting good communal relations; EU-Israel relations, around Peace, Prosperity, Security and Equality for all Israeli citizens; and Post-Holocaust issues, including education and restitution.

The Board’s President Vivian Wineman said: “This is an exciting piece of work that has drawn praise from across the European Jewish Community. The document was produced in extensive coordination with other Jewish communities around Europe and this is the first such manifesto produced by a Jewish community for the European Elections.  It will be used to enfranchise local communities, with regional communal leaders using the document to speak directly to MEP candidates about the issues.”

Dr Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) said: “The EJC welcomes this important initiative from the Board of Deputies which encourages Jewish citizens in the European Union to take a full part in the democratic process. It is important that we utilise this opportunity to engage with candidates and to ensure that issues close to our concerns are properly addressed. This involves understanding the issues but most of all, going out to vote. We cannot complain afterwards if we do not use the hard-earned democratic rights we possess.”

For a copy of the Manifesto please click here.