Prime Minister Viorica Dancila participates in International March of the Living, in Poland

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Thursday participated in Poland in the International March of the Living, an annual educational event meant to walk the 3-kilometer distance between Auschwitz and Birkenau, a release by the Romanian gov't sent to AGERPRES, reads. "Prime Minister Viorica Dancila participated Thursday in the International March of the Living, an annual educational event organised in Poland and in the commemorative ceremony alongside leaders of the int'l community, government officials, representatives of the religious denominations, students and children organisations. Together with the official delegation headed by the Premier, in this event have also participated David Saranga, the ambassador of the State of Israel to Romania, as well as Tova Ben Nun-Cherbis, president and founding father of the Laude-Reut Educational Complex, together with a group of children from Romania. The march was preceded by a speech within the official part of the event, as well as by a meeting with a students' delegation from Romania who have attended the event," the release says. Viorica Dancila mentioned on this occasion that the tragic events with anti-Semitic character in the last years in Europe "do prove to us how important it is to identify very clearly the ways by which we could prevent anti-Semitism" as well as how current are the priorities Romania has promoted the long of its term of the IHRA Presidency (March 2016 - March 2017), namely: the consolidation of the education on the Holocaust, the encouragement of the academic research and the combating of the anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and discrimination. Premier Dancila also presented the approaches by the Romanian authorities regarding the Holocaust commemoration and research, as well as the combating of anti-Semitism, which have pursued with priority the reconciliation with Romania's recent past through developing educational programmes about the Holocaust dedicated to the pre-university and university tuition, the protection of the Jewish cultural heritage, the combating of anti-Semitism and other forms of racism and xenophobia. On this occasion, she made an appeal to the strengthening of the education of the young generation for the latter be capable to denounce and combat any form of extremism, intolerance, racism or anti-Semitism, this being an objective absolutely necessary to mould a democratic future," the release adds. Viorica Dancila brought to mind in context that Romania's priorities as Presidency of the EU Council include in its 4th pillar, Europe of Common Values, topics connected to combating racism, intolerance, xenophobia, populism, anti-Semitism and to discouraging the hate speech, and recalled the two international events organised by the Presidency of Romania to the EU Council on combating anti-Semitism at European and national level, includingly by promoting a project aiming to establish a memorial museum of the Holocaust.AGERPRES(RO - author: Dana Piciu, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Maria Voican, editor: Bogdan Gabaroi)