EU criticized at first European Roma summit

The European Union called Tuesday for a continentwide drive to improve the plight of millions of Gypsies, also called Roma, who face discrimination and poverty.

Roma representatives at the first "European Roma Summit," however, criticized the EU for failing to do enough. In particular, they were incensed by the EU executive body’s failure to condemn Italy over new security measures that human rights groups denounce as discriminatory against Gypsies.

"It is very shameful such things can happen within the European Union," said Isabela Mihalache, senior project manager with the Open Society Institute. "It’s also shameful that the European Commission could not send a clearer and stronger message to the Italian government."

Open Society Institute founder George Soros, who has long championed Roma rights, said he supported legal action against Italy over the measures, which include fingerprinting adults and children without valid ID papers.

"I am deeply troubled by the precedent set by Roma profiling in Italy," Soros told the conference. "I consider targeted fingerprinting of Roma a case of ethnic profiling which ought to be illegal."
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Italy’s government is conducting a census of tens of thousands of Gypsies, many of whom come from Romania or elsewhere in the Balkans. It says the moves will help authorities clamp down on crime and illegal immigrants and push Roma children to attend school.

Critics say it is an attempt to win favor with voters who blame Gypsies for street crime. Although the measures were condemned by the European Parliament, the EU’s head office — the European Commission — has said they do not infringe the bloc’s rules.

The commission called the summit to bring together government officials, Roma representatives and nongovernment organizations to draw attention to the problems facing the up to 9 million Gypsies living in the 27-nation bloc. Studies say Roma suffer widespread poverty, poor health, low educational levels and high unemployment.

"They still represent the largest ethnic group facing extreme poverty, social exclusion and discrimination on our territory," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said. "Most of their population … lives in conditions which are simply not acceptable in 21st century Europe."

In Greece, meanwhile, U.N. human rights monitor Gay McDougall warned that Gypsies living in settlements on the outskirts of Athens are facing a "desperate situation," typically without electricity and access to potable running water.

More than 120,000 Gypsies live in Greece, according to government estimates, and almost half of them live in tents and shacks at settlements outside cities.