EU

Emiliya Dancheva: Can we trust the European Parliament if its members are deaf and blind to anti-Gypsyism in Bulgaria?

9.5.2018 6:55 One year ago, the leader of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, Mr Boyko Borissov, became Prime Minister of Bulgaria for the third time since 2009, forming an unprecedented ruling coalition with nationalistic and xenophobic parties (VMRO, ATAKA and NFSB).  full story

EU Agency for Fundamental Rights finds Czech Republic the place that rejects Romani people the most

30.4.2018 15:29 The lives of many Romani people in Europe are similar to the lives of people living in the poorer countries of the world, according to a report released earlier this month by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) entitled "A persisting concern: anti-Gypsyism as a barrier to Roma inclusion". The main problems Romani people face daily in the EU include hunger, poor hygienic conditions, and youth unemployment, according to the report.  full story

videoMEP Soraya Post for ROMEA TV: Antigypsyism exists everywhere in Europe

29.4.2018 8:51 According to Romani MEP Soraya Post, antigypsyism and discrimination against Romani people are a problem in every European country. In Sweden, where she comes from, the general living conditions for Romani people are, in her opinion, much better than in Bulgaria, Hungary or Romania.

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Jana Balážová: Not acceptable for teachers to see Romani children as a burden

28.4.2018 7:58 Members of the human rights community shined a spotlight on the situations faced by Romani children and their parents in Central Europe at a screening of the documentary “Europe: Which Children Matter?” The film was shown at Cinema Galeries in Brussels to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  full story

videoRoma Week at the European Parliament: 40 young Roma discuss antigypsyism with MEPs

27.4.2018 8:07 Activists, experts, organizations working to combat persistent hatred of Romani people in Europe, and politicians have finished the third annual Roma Week at the European Parliament and other EU institutions, which began on 8 April 2018, International Romani Day. According to the organizers, the aim of Roma Week is to bring together Romani activists, experts and youth from the European states in order to contribute to developing a European strategy against antigypsyism and to discussing options for addressing the situation of Romani people throughout Europe.  full story

Alliance against Antigypsyism: EU Roma Week is an opportunity to focus on tackling antigypsyism in Europe

21.4.2018 7:24 The third annual EU Roma Week at the European Parliament was launched on International Roma Day (8 April) this year. The annual advocacy event is an important opportunity to put the fight against antigypsyism – the specific form of racism faced by Roma, Sinti and Travellers – at the forefront of the European Union agenda, and to highlight the need to uphold the fundamental rights of Roma in Europe.  full story

European Roma and Travellers Forum: Roma Rights at a Crossroads

8.4.2018 14:49 Roma Day is the occasion for all Roma from all over the world to remember the troubled history of our people. It is also the opportunity to reflect on what needs to be done to preserve our identity, our culture and, most of all, our language.  full story

Italian police forcibly evict yet another Roma camp

31.3.2018 13:40

According to Italian news site La Stampa, Italian police in Beinasco demolished a Roma camp on 7 March, forcing five families to leave their homes. Almost all the camp’s inhabitants had already left the location in recent days, complying with an ordinance issued on 20 December 2017 by the municipality. One elderly woman remained in her home, only to be driven out by bulldozers.

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Antigypsyism on the agenda at EU’s High-Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance

17.12.2017 7:24 The EU’s High-Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, which brings together representatives of EU Member States and civil society, put a special emphasis on discussing antigypsyism at their 4th High-Level Meeting in Brussels on 5 December 2017. Vera Jourova, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, expressed deep concerns regarding the widespread social acceptance of antigypsyism in Europe.  full story

EU High Level Group on combating racism features Roma participants from Czech Republic, discusses Afrophobia

6.12.2017 11:46 On 5 December 2017 the European Union High Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance convened and discussed the specific racism faced by people of African descent in the European Union. The topic is a big step towards recognizing the prevalence of Afrophobia in Europe and then acting to combat it.  full story

Committee for European Romani Politics publishes Brussels Declaration

22.11.2017 9:48 The Committee for European Romani Politics (CERP) has declared its intention to establish a European political party for the Romani nation. The plan was stated in their Brussels Declaration on Monday, 20 November.  full story

Slovakia: Debacle in elections for the neofascists, Kotleba out as Regional Governor

7.11.2017 17:32 Slovakia has directly elected Regional Governors and Regional Assembly members in the country's eight self-administering regions. Marian Kotleba of the "People's Party Our Slovakia" (LSNS), a neofascist, suffered a big defeat, losing to Jan Lunter by more than 20 percentage points and leaving his post as Banská Bystrica's Governor.  full story

European Parliament: Roma in the EU face antigypsyism and everyday discrimination that must stop

27.10.2017 10:47 According to most members of the European Parliament (EP), Romani people throughout the European Union (EU) are being denied access to education, employment and health care. Some are forcibly displaced and racist assaults on them are investigated very slowly.  full story

Czech company that owns pig farm on Roma genocide site will appeal order to return subsidy due to EU anti-fraud investigation

11.10.2017 16:21 Czech Radio reported on 5 October that the AGPI firm must return a subsidy of EUR 375 000 in Czech and EU funds which it applied for in order to reconstruct an egg factory in Vrcovice u Písku. The firm is primarily known to the general public as the operator of the pig farm standing on a site in Lety u Písku where Romani people fell victim to the Holocaust.  full story

European Commission: Number of Roma youth not in school and unemployed in the Czech Republic is rising

5.9.2017 13:03 On 30 August the European Commission published the conclusions from its assessment of how the EU Member States are doing on fulfilling their national Roma Integration Strategies. According to the report, in the Czech Republic the number of Romani youth who neither attend school nor work is significantly increasing.
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Czech Gov't says it will not receive any more migrants on basis of EU quotas

7.6.2017 9:47 The Czech Republic will not be receiving any more migrants from the reception centers in Greece and Italy on the basis of the EU's redistribution quotas because it believes the quota system is dysfunctional and is making that decision on the basis of the deteriorating security situation. Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) announced the news to journalists yesterday after the cabinet session.  full story

EU ministers approve plan to suppress hate on the Internet

26.5.2017 7:40 Reuters reports that ministers of the EU Member States approved a plan on 23 May in Brussels which is meant to force the Facebook, Google and Twitter companies to more effectively eliminate hateful videos posted to their Internet platforms, the first legislative arrangements about such questions at EU level. Firms operating social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will have to take steps to eliminate videos that defend terrorism and engage in hate speech.  full story

Harvard survey over 15 years finds Czechs are Europe's biggest racists, critics question its methodology

19.5.2017 13:28 The Czech Republic has come in first place in a notorious category, that of latent racism, according to the "Map of Racism", which is a survey conducted by the IAT at Harvard University in the USA and which was first published by the US-based portal The Conversation. According to the survey, racism is rooted much more significantly in the minds of Czech people than it is in the minds of the respondents from other European nations  full story

videoVIDEO: Discussion of International Romani Day at the European Parliament

8.4.2017 10:44 A discussion marking International Romani Day took place at the European Parliament yesterday. "This day is a particular opportunity to recall that we are a union of values in the European Union, and we need to look at events all around the world, it's important to us what happens with minorities around the world and others who may happen to think differently, and it's important to define those values clearly," the moderator began the session.
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Czech Senator embarrassingly falls for satire claiming EU wants to change the Czech alphabet

20.3.2017 7:20 We have written several times here at Romea.cz about Czech Senator Jaroslav Doubrava. Mostly we have reported his anti-Romani, racist remarks, or his attacks against the European Union (EU).  full story