Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania


The Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania is a cultural association in Romania representing the Jewish community. The FCER has the right to one seat in the Chamber of Deputies.
WWW jewishfed.ro

History

The organisation was originally founded as the Federation of Unions of Jewish Communities in Romania in 1936 by the Unions of Communities of the Old Kingdom and of the Provinces, which included the Union of Jewish Communities of the Old Kingdom, the Union of Jewish Communities of Transylvania and Banat, the Union of Jewish Communities of Bucovina, and the Union of Jewish Communities of Bessarabia. The first elected president of the organisation was Sigmund Birman, a philanthropist and industrialist. From 1941 to 1944 it was banned by the government of dictator Ion Antonescu, and replaced with the pro-government Jewish Centre of Romania, before being re-established in 1945. It took on its current name in 1949.
The FCER contested the 1996 general elections, receiving 12,746 votes and winning a single seat in the Chamber of Deputies under the electoral law allowing organisations representing ethnic minority groups to be exempt from the electoral threshold only applied as long as they received 10% of the vote required for a single seat in the Chamber of Deputies. The Jewish communities body has won a seat in every election since.

Leaders