European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation

 

The European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (also ECTR) was established in Paris, France on October 7, 2008 to monitor tolerance in Europe. The Chairman of the Council is former President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski, and the Co-chairman is President of the European Jewish Congress Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor.
 
As a tolerance watchdog, the ECTR prepares practical recommendations to governments and international organisations on improving interreligious and interethnic relations on the continent. The Council is one of few international organisations focused on fighting xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racial discrimination in the modern world.

 

The ECTR includes such notable political and public figures as:

 

  • José María Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain;
  • Erhard Busek, former Vice-Chancellor of the Republic of Austria;
  • George Vassiliou, former President of the Republic of Cyprus;
  • Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, former President of the Republic of Latvia;
  • Václav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic;
  • Rita Süssmuth, former Speaker of the German Bundestag;
  • Igor Ivanov, former Foreign Minister and Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Professor of MGIMO-University;
  • Milan Kučan, former President of Slovenia;
  • Alfred Moisiu, former President of Albania;
  • Göran Persson, former Prime Minister of Sweden;
  • Vilma Trajkovska, President of the Boris Trajkovski International Foundation;
  • Talât Sait Halman, former Turkish Minister of Culture and Professor of Bilkent University.