EU's anti-Semitism seminar back on track

BRUSSELS - A Jewish group patched up its differences with the European Union's chief executive on Thursday after accusing his office of "moral treachery" amid plans for a European seminar on anti-Semitism.

The World Jewish Congress said the European Union censored a study highlighting involvement of Europe's Arab minorities in anti-Semitic attacks. It also complained about a poll in which Israel was named a threat to world peace more than any other country.

Stung by the group's charges of anti-Semitism, European Commission President Romano Prodi abruptly called off an EU seminar on the issue. On Thursday, he met with an official from the group and said the event was back on.

"The cooperation between our two institutions is fully restored on the basis of a concrete mutual trust," Prodi said after meeting Israel Singer, the chairman of the group's board.

Singer flew to the EU headquarters from New York for the hastily arranged meeting.

The dispute flared Monday when the Financial Times newspaper published a letter from the president of the group, Edgar Bronfman, and the head of its European branch, Coby Benatoff, accusing the European Union's head office of "intellectual dishonesty and moral treachery."

Prodi denied the European Commission censored the study from the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia. He said the Vienna-based center is an independent institution and that the European Commission has no power to interfere.

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