BRUSSELS (EJP)---Former European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek from Poland was awarded by the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) the first "Lord Jakobovits Prize of European Jury" for his efforts in support of Polish and European Jewry, during a ceremony at the main synagogue in Brussels.

"For many years, Jerzy Buzek has been a great friend of the Jewish people. Both as Polish Prime Minister and European Parliament president, he built bridges, vigorously fought anti-Semitism, helped to keep up the memory of the Shoah and was a supporter of the State of Israel," declared Rabbi Goldschmidt, CER President and Chief Rabbi of Moscow, who presented the prize to Buzek.

The ceremony, which was attended by the current President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, also included a special prayer for the victims of the Toulouse shootings.

In a speech, Schulz  told the congregation that the killings of Jewish children in a school in Toulouse had been "a terrible shock."

He underscored the role of European integration after the Holocaust and said that the many different cultures formed the richness and the great heritage of the European continent.