Brussels, 23 September 2005 –  “The  European Coalition for Israel is urging the European Union to adopt a new Funding philosophy which ensures that funds will not only meet the needs of the recipient through a strict auditing process but that it will also be tied to strict benchmarking concerning human rights, freedom, equality and the rule of law.” This new model of “Moral Leadership Funding” was presented at the Annual European Coalition for Israel conference in the European Parliament in  Brussels on Monday. In a speech in the European Parliament Dr Jürgen Bühler from the European Coalition for  Israel presented the model which has also been submitted to the European Commission in an official consultation process on how to avoid that funds aimed at non-governmental organisations end up in terrorist hands. (Draft recommendation to Member States Regarding a Code of Conduct for Non-Profit Organisations to Promote Transparency and Accountability Best Practices.  Brussels, 22 July 2005)

At the conference the Coalition engaged in a heated but constructive dialogue with Commission officials directly involved in the funding of the PA. Though stricter technical measures have been adopted after the European Parliament and OLAF inquiries in to alleged misuse of EU-fund to the Palestinian Authority two years ago, the Commission still has a long way to go to ensure European tax payers that their money is not being used to promote incitement to genocide or terrorism. During the conference it was agreed that the Coalition will feed the European Commission with relevant material and documentation on the developments with regards to incitement to genocide or terrorism in the Palestinian authorities. One of the speakers, Itamar Marcus from the Palestinian Media Watch pointed out that international funding of the PA is still not being sufficiently scrutinized. Summer camps are named after terrorists and recently a new football stadium was named in honour of the former head of Black September organisation, which was responsible for the slaying of two American diplomats in 1973 and 11 Israeli Olympic Athletes. The conference concluded that this was simply unacceptable and that any infrastructure already built with EU-funding named to honor terrorists or terrorist organisation should be stopped immediately.  Also the EU should pledge not to financially support any authority which permits the incitement to hatred or violence against members of a religion by its leaders, media or education system.

The workshop on “EU-funding to the Palestinian Authority - two years after the inquiry” was one of the highlights of the  two day conference, which had brought together some 100 participants from across  Europe. Other workshops included “Democracy and Human Rights in Middle East”, “Anti-Semitism in  Europe and the Middle East” as well as an extra seminar on “God and the EU”. At the seminar MEP  Tunne Kelam from Estonia pointed out that discrimination of people of faith seems to have become common practice in Europe today. He regretted that the mentioning of God and of Judeo-Christian heritage was left out in the preamble to the new European constitution which is presently on hold due to the setbacks in the national referendums in France and Netherlands.
- God will certainly survive without a constitution but will Europe survive? he asked.

The conference participants were also able to listen to  Dr Michael Weninger who is currently acting as Special Advisor on Religious Affairs to the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.  Weninger urged Christians to become more active in the European debate.
- We need more people like you who come to Brussels and express your concerns, he told the participants.

The two day conference was hosted by MEP  Hannu Takkula of Finland and chaired by former MEP, Executive Director of the  European Coalition for  Israel Rijk van Dam.

For more information contact info(at)ec4i.org  or call +358-20 133 4027