Passing kosher labeling laws will be a devastating blow for Jews on the continent, warned leaders speaking at a conference called by the Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) this week.

The conference, under the patronage of Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament invited leading religious and education representatives to address the theme: Is Multiculturalism Sustainable in Twenty-First Century Europe? 

Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yonah Metzger, Israel’s Minister of Religious Affairs, Yaakov Margi and Jan Truszczynski, Director General for Education and Culture at the European Commission were among the presenters.  

Rabbi Metzger told the conference that the European Union should remove the amendment from the upcoming vote on food labeling laws. 

“The European Parliament has to be especially tolerant on this issue and to remove from its agenda the labeling amendment that will harm Jewish slaughter." 

Minister Margi said that these types of laws are reminiscent of darker times. “You should remember that among the first anti-Semitic laws passed by the Nazis was a law against shechita,” Margi said.

The draft amendment to the legislation requires all meat products derived from animals slaughtered according to Jewish custom to be labeled as "meat from slaughter without stunning."

But according to Shechita UK, an organization that lobbies to protect kosher slaughtering practices in Europe, a breakthrough was achieved on June 15. "The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers have reached a preliminary agreement on the EU Regulation on food information for consumers. 

"In the course of the negotiations the Parliament has agreed to remove the amendment from the text of the regulation that would have required meat and meat products from animals not stunned prior to slaughter, to be so labelled."

Shimon Cohen, Campaign Director for Shechita UK told lubavitch.com that “The indications that we have now received from the EU are for now positive. Over the next fortnight the official text of what has been agreed will be debated and hopefully approved by the full Council and Parliament. We will monitor the progress of this. We are however, very conscious that the matter has only been deferred and we will need the community to be fully engaged in the coming months.”

The concern is that the labeling will stigmatize consumption of kosher meat,  especially in the regular marketplace which accounts for over half of all kosher meat sales. This will necessarily result in increased kosher food prices, making kosher meat prohibitively costly. The vote is expected to take place during July.

“While the amendment to the food labeling laws may appear innocuous, in fact, it could prove a threat to European Jewry and our millennia-old customs,” said Rabbi Arye Goldberg, Deputy director of the RCE.

“This gathering of Jews representing communities across Europe in the Parliament sends a clear message to our elected officials that this is immoral and should not pass.”

Among other issues discussed at the conference was the future of European Jewry as a result of the rise of anti-semitism, coming especially from Moslem extremists.

Rabbi Metzger talked about his initiative to establish an international religious institution to unite all religious leaders worldwide, as a forum for settling inter-religious disputes.

In a symbolic act of Jewish assertion, the conference concluded with the writing of a new Torah scroll, to be used by Jewish Members of the European Parliament, visitors and other dignitaries. The Torah’s first letters were inscribed by Rabbi Metzger.

The writing of the Torah “sends a clear message to those who want to proscribe certain Jewish customs, that the Jewish People, our traditions and history, are here to stay,” said Rabbi Goldberg.

The Torah scroll will be housed at the European Jewish building next to the European Parliament in Brussels.

The RCE represents 700 European Jewish religious leaders, was founded ten years ago to address the needs and concerns of Europe’s Jewish communities. It is now, say its representatives, experiencing an alarming situation.

“There is cause for alarm and it is incumbent on European rabbis to be at the forefront of all the battles of the Jewish community,” Rabbi Goldberg said. 

“The debate surrounding multiculturalism in Europe is perhaps a crisis of identity on the continent. Rabbis need to make their voices heard both within the community and in wider society on these vital issues.”