9.42 am, 17 December, 2020. The moment the Jew became a second-class citizen in Europe again.
As Director of Public Affairs at the European Jewish Association I had our press release on the European Court ruling on Kosher slaughter in Belgium all ready this morning. Our media team had it translated into French, Italian, German. I called the press office of the Court and had them send me the decision and statement the second it was announced. We were primed and ready.
The problem was I had the wrong press release ready. We were wrong.
We had anticipated that the Court would follow the opinion of the Attorney General who back in September said that bans on Kosher slaughter were an impediment to the fundamental right of Freedom of Religion, enshrined in the EU’s own charter of fundamental rights.