The council campaigns for stronger laws against extremism in Europe. Blair will be replacing Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski who served as the council’s president between 2008 and 2014.
As its new chairman, Blair plans to push forward with legislative proposals giving greater power to judiciaries to prosecute hate speech and to make Holocaust denial illegal, The Guardian cites the former quartet envoy as saying in a Thursday article published by The Times.
The Middle East Quartet, comprising Russia, the European Union, the United States and the United Nations, confirmed Blair’s resignation last week.
The Quartet, established in 2002, has been mediating Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Blair was appointed its official envoy in 2007, after resigning as the UK prime minister.
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