At a General Assembly meeting in Brussels, the Russian businessman Moshe Kantor has been confirmed in his post of president of the European Jewish Congress for a third term. Sixty of the delegates (73 percent) voted for Kantor while Richard Prasquier, the president of the French Jewish community umbrella organization CRIF, received 22 votes (27 percent). The 59-year-old Kantor has served as EJC head since June 2007.
“I am extremely proud of what we have achieved over the last few years,” Kantor said after the vote. “The voice of European Jewry is clearly visible in a united Europe, whose political weight is felt throughout the world. We cannot rest on our laurels, there are many challenges for the Jewish communities of Europe to face in the coming years. Anti-Semitism is growing from both extremes, our traditions are under assault and Israel is constantly under threat of delegitimization," the EJC president declared, adding: "However, we go into the next four years on the back of significant progress, working together with European governments and pan-European institutions who understand the growing threat of anti-Semitism and racism for all European citizens.”
The General Assembly also elected Vivian Wineman, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, as new chairman of the EJC Council. He succeeds Flo Kaufmann in this post.
Based in Paris, the European Jewish Congress was founded in 1986. Prior to that, it existed as the European branch of the World Jewish Congress (WJC). The EJC is today is one of five regional affiliates of the WJC and federates the democratically elected leaders of national Jewish communities in 42 countries.
