Following is the full text of the address by First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, at a memorial ceremony for the victims of the Paris terror attacks in Brussels 21 January 2015:
First of all I want to really thank you for inviting me to speak here today. It is, certainly after the words of Ambassador Sella, an impressive gathering of people of goodwill.
Whenever in European history things tend to go wrong in Europe, the Jews are always the first target. In that sense, I agree with Ambassador Sellal when he says that there is a new form of anti-Semitism in Europe. It interacts with classical anti-Semitism that unfortunately is still present on our continent and within the European Union.
In a sense, during the ages, the Jewish community was always the first indication of trouble ahead for European societies. The first sign of anti-Semitism, the first pogrom, the first persecution of Jews, always led to greater tragedies in Europe. So fighting anti-Semitism, intolerance, hatred of who is different is the essential fight for the peaceful nature of the European society. I refuse to not see the link between classical anti-Semitism and what is happening today in Europe.
I would call on everone who has any responsibility in European society to show what the Germans call ‘civic courage’ to give an answer to this threat in civil action. Yes, we in the European Commission we will take our responsibility, yes governments will take their responsiblity. But this is a esponsibility that needs to be shared by societies, by communities, by individual citizens.
If the European ideal is to survive, if the European Union is to survive i twill not happen because the euro was strong or the internal market functions or we have better regulation. It will only happen if it is based on the assumption and the acceptance of the fact that for every community that belongs in Europe there is a place in Europe.
The most disturbing news I got recently which quite literally keeps me awake at night is that, when asked, a majority in the Jewish community in France and the Jewish community in United Kingdom says ‘We don’t know if there is a future for us in Europe’. If there is no future for Jews in Europe, there is no future for Europe. And it is our task to ensure that every single person who belong to this continent, whether he is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, Buddhist…, for everyone there should be a place and a feeling of belonging and a feeling of safety.
If we have to do justice to the memory of those in Paris who were targeted like earlier in Brussels because they were Jews and for no other reason, we have to take up this responsibilty for a society that can only exist if we are tolerant, if we accept differences. We don’t have to be like each other. We can even enjoy the differences between our communities. But we have to re-connect with what Albert Camus called an essential human characteristic which distinguishes us from animals, to be able to look at the world with somebody else’s eyes. If we forget that we fall into the trap of the fanatics who refuse to accept that there can be another vision of the world than their vision. And who see in fanaticism a justification to eradicate everyone who is different. If we don’t step up our activities to avoid that logic to take hold in Europe, the European Union, the European project , the European ideal is doomed.
Therefore, Ladies and Gentlemen we have the moral duty, a duty of civility, a political duty to bring about the situation as soon as possible that not one Jew in Europe feels the urge to leave Europe because he or she sees no future for them on this continent. Taking away the Jews from Europe is taking away Europe’s soul. It has been done before. The answer that we call now European Union and European integration was an answer to that threat. That is why we have European integration. Not for economic reasons but to avoid the mistakes we Europeans collectively made in the past.
Seventy years after the liberation of Auschwitz it should be our greatest duty to prevent the ghosts and the demons of the past to return. Let’s do this for the four victims who fell due to hatred in Paris. Thank you. Ani Yehudi (I am a Jew).