Join the protest against the anti-Romani statement of Silvio Berlusconi!

Viktória Mohácsi MEP-ALDE, and the following non-governmental organizations listed below, feel insulted by the statement of Silvio Berlusconi and demand his peremptory apologies. Silvio Berlusconi declared "Tolerance zero towards Roma, clandestines and criminals" during a phone interview concerning his program for the first 100 day of governance.

We, undersigned people beleive: "These words are simply shameful and unacceptable from the former prime minister of an EU Member State. We are stating, that public personalities should refrain from statements – especially in their electoral campaign – that encourage or incite to hate or stigmatisation of the Roma on the basis of their ethnic origin. Let us remind Mr. Berlusconi, that we are approximately 10 million individuals living within the European borders, as part of the European society for centuries, as a real European minority. Making things clear: criminality has no ethnicity, so Mr. Berlusconi shouldn’t use the word Roma in this context.

We seriously doubt that a political campaign carried out through Romaphobic and dictatorial statements will give a better image of Italy. Associating Roma to negative stereotypes and using the whole Romani nation as "electoral scapegoat" is just in opposition with European values.

As Romani Member of the European Parliament, Romani and non-Romani members of organizations urge Mr. Silvio Berlusconi to address public apologies to the 10 millions of Roma living in EU Member States and to pay respect to all the provisions in force including Article 3 of the Italian Constitution and to Article 21 and 22 of the Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union."