Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.

The Candidate Countries Montenegro^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina^* and Georgia, as well as San Marino align themselves with this statement

Our joint fight against contemporary forms of extremist and totalitarian ideologies, including neo-Nazism, is and remains a key priority. The EU stands firmly against all forms of antisemitism, which is incompatible with the core values and principles on which the EU is founded. The EU and its Member States have taken extensive legal and policy measures to combat acts of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

We support and encourage a constructive discussion in the context of the global rise in neo-Nazism and antisemitism. This resolution, on the contrary, abuses this agenda and continues to put an emphasis in a selective and twisted manner on issues that in essence are far from combatting racism and discrimination. It is a thinly veiled attempt by the Russian Federation to promote its own distorted version of history under the guise of combating neo-Nazism. It is important to remember that for many European countries the end of the Second World War did not bring freedom but further occupation and exploitation, more repression and crimes against humanity by other totalitarian regimes.

We strongly condemn the politically motivated misuse of the anti-Nazism narrative, and unequivocally reject the inaccurate and misleading use of the term ‘denazification’ to justify Russia’s inhumane, cruel and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. This undermines genuine efforts to combat neo-Nazism. As does turning a resolution that should be dealing with a serious issue into a vehicle for propaganda and disinformation. As the aggression against Ukraine continues, we have seen the Russian Federation continuing to misuse and abuse UN fora to spread this false narrative.

The European Union remains fully committed to the global fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred, and related intolerance.

For all these reasons, the Member States of the European Union will vote No on resolution L.2.We strongly encourage the broader UN membership to also vote NO.

We reiterate our call for Russia to immediately stop its war of aggression against Ukraine and withdraw all of its forces from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders. 

Thank you.