International Roma Day: Commission calls for decisive action to further Roma integration

To mark International Roma Day, the European Commission has underlined the
need for further efforts by the Member States to improve the situation for Roma
communities in Europe. Despite efforts in the Member States towards Roma
integration, much more progress has yet to be made at national level to fight
discrimination and improve access for Roma to employment, education, housing and
healthcare in particular.

In a joint statement, Vice-President Viviane Reding (EU-Justice Commissioner),
László Andor (Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion),
Johannes Hahn (Commissioner for Regional Policy) and Androulla Vassiliou (Commissioner
for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth) said:

"Improving the situation for Roma people is one of the biggest challenges we
face in Europe. Making a real difference to their daily lives requires long term
commitments, adequate resources, and concerted action at local, regional,
national and European level.

"The EU has laid down a strong framework for action and Member States have
drawn up national strategies for Roma inclusion. This is a good first step. The
key is now to make sure these policies are implemented on the ground.

"Because Roma inclusion makes sense: research by the World Bank suggests full
Roma integration could be worth around half a billion euros a year to the
economies of some countries by improving productivity, cutting welfare bills and
boosting tax receipts. Roma integration thus must not be seen as a cost, but as
a social investment, and will be key in achieving the targets of the Europe 2020
Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth

"Roma integration cannot be left to Sunday speeches that are not followed up
come Monday morning. What we need is a genuine political commitment from the
Member States to implement national strategies. The drafting of national
strategies was certainly a good start but we still need more to make changes
happen.

"We will adopt our 2013 report on progress in implementing the national
strategies before the summer and will evaluate to what extent our
recommendations have been followed up by Member States.

"In addition, the negotiations on EU Funds for the period 2014-2020 will be
decisive. It is crucial to ensure that National Roma Contact Points, Roma NGOs
and experts are involved in the planning as early as possible. International
Roma Day is an opportunity to reflect on our achievements but also to mobilise
efforts to continue the crucial work towards Roma equality."

Since 2010 the European Commission has continually been keeping Roma
integration high on the political agenda: thanks to the EU Framework for
national Roma integration strategies (IP/11/400) all Member States now have
national integration strategies which the Commission evaluates every year (see
IP/12/499). The next progress report will be presented before the summer. At the
same time, the Commission will propose also a Recommendation on Roma inclusion
to be adopted by the Council. Finally, the Commission has proposed better
targeting of EU funds to support Roma integration in the next financial
programming period 2014-2020.

Background

Roma integration is in the interest of Member States, especially of those
with a large Roma minority. Roma represent a significant and growing proportion
of the school age population and the future workforce. In countries like
Bulgaria and Romania, one in every four to five new labour market entrants are
Roma. Efficient labour activation policies and enabling individualised and
accessible support services for Roma job seekers are crucial to let Roma people
live up to their potential and actively and equally participate in society.

In a report adopted on 23 May 2012, the European Commission called on EU
Member States to implement their national strategies to improve the economic and
social integration of Europe’s 10 to 12 million Roma. Member States developed
these plans in response to the Commission’s EU Framework for national Roma
integration strategies adopted on 5 April 2011 (see IP/11/400, MEMO/11/216)
which was endorsed by EU leaders soon afterwards (IP/11/789).

In its assessment of the national Roma integration strategies, one of the
primary findings was that Member States, for financial or administration reasons,
are not making good use of these funds. Only 12 countries have clearly
identified allocated funding and presented specific amounts for Roma inclusion
policy measures in their strategy papers (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece,
Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and
Sweden).

EU Structural Funds – European Social Fund (ESF), the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
(EAFRD) – have been mobilised to boost national efforts and are an important
financial lever in ensuring the translation of national Roma integration
strategies into real socio-economic inclusion of Roma communities, alongside
national budgets. But although, the three funds total €50 billion per year, not
enough benefits disadvantaged Roma communities. The Commission therefore urges
the national Roma contact points to be closely involved in the planning of the
use of EU Funds.

For the new funding period 2014-2020, the Commission has proposed a specific
investment priority to be devoted to the integration of marginalised communities,
such as Roma and ensuring requirement that an appropriate Roma inclusion
strategy is in place, where EU funds are spent for this purpose. It has proposed
to use at least 20% of ESF resources for social inclusion, which would be a huge
improvement in countries with a large Roma population.