[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 25637]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FRANCE, THE EU, AND ANTI-SEMITISM

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, yesterday in my opening statement at a 
hearing of the Committee on Foreign Relations on anti-Semitism in 
Europe, I criticized the European Union for not having included in its 
Brussels summit's so-called ``Presidency Conclusions'' a denunciation 
of the Malaysian Prime Minister's vile anti-Semitic remarks.
  I also recognized that French President Chirac wrote a personal 
letter to the Malaysian Prime Minister, but I said that I doubted that 
many Muslims would have access to his criticisms.
  This morning, however, I was informed by my friend the French 
Ambassador that President Chirac's letter had, in fact, been made 
public.
  I am happy to learn this, and I applaud President Chirac for his 
personal condemnation of the Malaysian Prime Minister's disgusting 
speech.
  This does not, however, change my opinion that the European Union 
should have included a condemnation in the catalog of external issues 
delineated in its ``Presidency Conclusions.''
  Most importantly, as yesterday's hearing pointed out, it is 
imperative that both the European Union and the United States 
resolutely and publicly oppose the cancer of anti-Semitism wherever in 
the world it raises its ugly head.

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