Federal Minister for the EU and the Constitution at the Austrian Federal Chancellery, Karoline Edtstadler and Antonio Martino, Director of the Task Force Austrian Jewish Cultural Heritage, hosted the meeting of the group of thirteen EU Member States who are signatories of the Vienna Declaration. The European Conference on Antisemitism, an informal and open working group of like-minded Special Envoys and Coordinators for combating antisemitism and members of the European Commission Working Group on the Implementation of the EU Strategy on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life, was established on May 18, 2022 in order to improve recording and encourage reporting of antisemitism.

The meeting brought together more than sixty Special Envoys and Coordinators on combating antisemitism and experts in the field of hate crime, including representatives of the World Jewish Congress, European Jewish Congress and the The Anti-Defamation League. Leadership of permanent international partners of the IHRA, Katharina von Schnurbein (European Commission) and Michael O’Flaherty (EU Agency for Fundamental Rights) gave presentations, while Sara Lustig, Co-Chair of the IHRA, gave closing remarks on the first day of the Conference.

The meeting focused on the implementation of the Vienna Declaration, which Croatia signed on April 13, 2023. In line with implementing the EU Strategy on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life and in the spirit of the EU Council declarations of December 6, 2018 and December 2, 2020 and the EU Council conclusions of March 4, 2022, signatories of the Vienna Declaration are committed to the following goals: developing common methodologies for hate crime reporting and recording, promoting the use of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, which can serve as a basis to collect comparable data on antisemitic incidents and data that is below the criminal threshold and strengthening cooperation between Jewish Communities and law enforcement.