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Posted on 01/05/2004 12:10:42 PM PST by SJackson
Romano Prodi, European Commission president, on Monday shelved plans for a conference on anti-semitism in Europe, after becoming embroiled in a rancorous dispute with Jewish leaders.
Mr Prodi reacted furiously to claims by two prominent Jewish leaders in Monday's Financial Times that the European Commission was guilty of anti-semitism.
His spokesman described the claims as "totally incomprehensible" and his aides said Mr Prodi no longer felt that conditions were right to hold the anti-semitism conference next month.
"We are going to freeze the arrangements for this seminar," said Marco Vignudelli, Mr Prodi's spokesman. He said Mr Prodi was "completely surprised" by the attack by Edgar M Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, and Cobi Benatoff, president of the European Jewish Congress.
They wrote in Monday's FT: "Anti-semitism can be expressed in two ways: by action and inaction. Remarkably, the European Commission is guilty of both."
The dispute concerns the Commission's handling of two reports dealing separately with Europeans' perceptions of Israel and anti-semitic incidents in Europe.
On Monday there were at least four heated telephone calls between Mr Prodi's Brussels office and the New York headquarters of the World Jewish Congress.
Elan Steinberg, executive vice-president of the congress, said: "If indeed there is a freeze on this seminar, it speaks volumes for their attitude. To paraphrase the Bible: 'They have been weighed in the scales and found wanting'."
Mr Prodi, who regards himself as a friend of the Jewish community, agreed with the congress last November to hold a conference on what he regards as the growing problem of anti-semitism in Europe.
The offer came after the European Commission organised an opinion poll which concluded that Europeans regarded Israel as the biggest threat to world peace. Mr Prodi later apologised for the way the questions had been put.
Separately, it was later revealed that the EU's racism watchdog, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, had decided not to publish a report which concluded that Muslims and pro-Palestinian groups were behind many reported incidents of anti-semitism. Mr Prodi's spokesman said on Monday that the centre was autonomous, and that the Commission was not responsible for the decision not to publish. The official reason was that the study was "lacking in empirical evidence".
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