VIENNA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for European Union (EU) member states to make a joint declaration against antisemitism based on a singular definition of the term, local media reported on Thursday.
Speaking at a conference in Vienna aimed at tackling antisemitism, Kurz said the proposed declaration would be an important step in creating a safer Europe for Jews, ORF reported.
He said he hopes that EU member states could come to agreement on the declaration during Austria's current term in the Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will finish at the end of the year.
Austria has a "particular responsibility" in the matter due its participation in the holocaust, he said, and only when Jews are safe the world over will Austria have met this historical responsibility.
The chancellor said it is "unbelievable" that antisemitism still exists almost 100 years after the holocaust.
He said that alongside the kind of antisemitism that has always existed in Europe, there is now also a new kind that has been "imported," particularly through migration streams from Islamic countries.
Contact with holocaust survivors is imperative for being able to effectively tackle the issue, he argued, noting that his generation could be the last to be able to engage in such dialogue with witnesses to these atrocities.
