Petition: Urgent Call to stop the decline of Roma Civil Society

Hereby, we the undersigned, call upon the European Commission, donors and
stakeholders involved in the inclusion of Roma to take the necessary
measures to ensure that EU policies, funding priorities and projects fulfil
the objective of helping Roma become equal European citizens.

The inclusion of Roma remains a litmus test for some of the core European
values: democracy, human rights and social inclusion. Equal Roma rights and
citizenship are high on the list of EU priorities. Unfortunately, much
remains to be done for the Union’s strategies to yield the expected results,
while the reality at the local level still provides a picture of inequality
and discrimination.

The exclusion of Roma represents a serious threat for the well-being and
stability of European societies. Not the least, increasing exclusion in some
of the newer Member States will continue to contribute to Roma migration
towards Western Europe.

Roma inclusion policies have not led to the expected results, not only
due to an absence of political will, but also due to the lack of fine-tuning
to the realities of the local level, as well as to inadequate Roma expertise
on the structures and functioning of intergovernmental organisations and on
the manner to approach the donors that finance Roma projects. Low rates of
funds absorption in most Member States with a significant Roma population
should prompt EU institutions to engage in a debate over the reform of the
current EU programmes in the field.

European Funds have failed to produce a significant difference in the life of
the Roma communities and have even proven detrimental to some of the Roma NGOs.

The fast disappearance of credible watch-dog Roma organisations is one such
example. These watch-dog NGOs are paramount for the EU Roma Framework Strategy
to function properly.

The signatories of this document believe that all stakeholders should be
committed to providing long term support for a sustainable professional and
independent network of Roma organisations, able and willing to monitor and
evaluate the activities of major intergovernmental organisations, national
governments, and EU institutions.

With this joint appeal we would therefore like to call on the European
Commission to launch a Roma Community Programme. In this context, we ask on the
European Commission to:

• Launch a targeted strand, within the EU 2020 programming period, that
  shall be destined to under-represented groups, including Roma;
• Involve Roma Civil Society in the design of this Community Programme,
  preferably following the model of the Citizenship Programme or Youth in
  Action (EACEA).

We would also like to ask donors to commit themselves to supporting this
Community Programme, during all its phases, including design, development, and
implementation.

We furthermore appeal to the Roma Civil Society to unite and constructively
provide input for enhancing this Community Programme.

This joint appeal is initiated by:

• Ruus Dijksterhuis, Director ERGO Network Belgium/Netherlands,
• Valeriu Nicolae, President Policy Centre for Roma and Minorities Romania,
• Lili Makaveeva, Director Integro Association Bulgaria,
• Adriatik Hasantari, Director Roma Active Albania,
• Mustafa Jakupov, Director RROMA Macedonia,
• Kumar Vishwanathan, Director Vzájemné Soužití CzechRepublic,
• TernYpe International Youth Network

And co-signed by the following Members of the European Parliament:

• Cornelia Ernst (GUE/NGL)