European Commission

European Commission presents new form of EU Social Funds after 2020

4.6.2018 17:06 The European Commission (EC) has presented its proposal for the new form of the funds to support the European Union's social dimension after 2020. The main fund is the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), through which, between 2021 and 2027, the EC is planning to allocate EUR 101.2 billion.  full story

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

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

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.

 full story

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

LIVE BROADCAST: 11th European Platform for Roma Inclusion underway in Brussels, Roma from Czech Republic attending

28.11.2017 9:40 In Brussels the 11th session of the European Platform for Roma Inclusion has been underway since yesterday and is being attended by a delegation from the Czech Republic. Politicians and Romani representatives are discussing Roma inclusion and how to improve the situation of Roma in Europe.  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

ROMACT press release: Roma partnership is crucial to successful inclusion

29.9.2017 7:45 The ROMACT program in the Czech Republic has issued the following press release:  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.
 full story

Czech Republic has one month to explain its refusal to redistribute refugees to European Commission

29.7.2017 13:41 Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) called "standard procedure" the step taken by the European Commission on 26 July to send the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland its "reasoned opinions" about the fact that those countries are not meeting their obligations with respect to the program for redistributing asylum-seekers according to established quotas. In a press release addressing the issue, the PM repeated the Czech Republic's refusal to redistribute the asylum-seekers and the Government's reasons for refusing.
 full story

Christian Democrat chair says Czech Republic should have taken in 10 refugees more to avoid European Commission censure

28.6.2017 11:53 According to the chair of the Czech Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) the Czech Republic should have received 10 more refugees in order to avoid arguing with the European
Commission. Pavel Bělobrádek made his remarks to journalists after the party's statewide conference last week.  full story

videoGabriela Hrabaňová: We need to discuss Romani integration with MEPs to promote our approaches at EU level

28.4.2017 10:33 At the close of March and start of April, on the occasion of International Romani Day, the second-ever EU Roma Week took place at the European Parliament in Brussels. Approximately 200 representatives of civil society and public institutions attended a series of events dedicated to the integration of Romani people in Europe.
 full story

European Commission disturbed by Hungary's CEU moves, could sue for violating EU law and values

14.4.2017 8:54

On 12 April the European Commission (EC) expressed concern over recent steps taken by the Hungarian Government, especially its controversial law on higher education. EC Vice-President Frans Timmermans threatened Budapest with the possible launching of yet another infringement proceedings over the issue.

 full story

European Commission reports Roma six times more likely to be poor in the Czech Republic than non-Roma

5.3.2017 8:25 The European Commission has published an analysis of the economic situation in the EU Member States, finding that while the Czech Republic is assessed relatively favorably from the perspective of economic indicators, there are several structural problems limiting the country's potential. Those problems are, for example, education, employment, and the social situation of some disadvantaged population groups.  full story

Commentary: Online social networks censor photos of Syrian war, ignore dissemination of hatred

7.12.2016 13:14 Recently Facebook covered over a couple of photographs on my profile with a grey rectangle because they were not appropriate for children. One photo, from wartime Aleppo, showed the corpse of a child with his leg bent at a right angle at the tibia and other corpses mutilated by a bomb explosion after an attack by Assad's army and the Russians.  full story

European Commission: Internet giants must combat hatred more

6.12.2016 10:00 The European Commission has warned Internet companies such as Facebook and YouTube that they must expend more effort to combat hatred online because they are too slow at removing racist posts, news server EurActiv.cz reports. If they do not improve, the Commission is prepared to adopt norms that will legally force them to change their approach, according to EurActiv.cz.  full story

Members of the European Parliament urge European Commission to move EU-subsidized pig farm from Lety site

17.10.2016 15:42 More than 80 legislators, some with the European Parliament and many at national level in 20 different EU Member States, have urged the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to begin addressing the situation of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek, where an industrial pig farm stands today. The legislators say the genocide of Romani people was perpetrated at that site and the EU must commit to making sure it is in a dignified state.  full story

EU: Juncker and Verhofstadt warn against nationalists and populists

15.9.2016 13:55 Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, chair of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) at the European Parliament (EP), said yesterday that the solution to uncontrolled globalization and virulent nationalism and populism on the old continent is a new, reformed, stronger European Union. His remarks were made in response to the speech on the state of the union given by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.  full story

EU Commissioners on Roma Holocaust Memorial Day: Too many Roma are victims of hate crime in Europe

2.8.2016 14:44 News server NewEurope.eu reports that First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, and Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Commissioner Věra Jourová have issued a joint statement on the occasion of Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. The statement recalls that on the night of 2 to 3 August 1944, around 3 000 Roma men, women and children from the "Gypsy family camp" of Auschwitz-Birkenau were murdered in the gas chambers.  full story