The plight of Europe's 10 million Roma population will fall under the
spotlight Tuesday afternoon when MEPs discuss an upcoming Roman summit. They
will be putting questions to the European Commission and Council of Ministers
about what is being done to improve the plight of the Roma. Physical and verbal
violence and unequal access to services are just some of the issues that will be
raised.
Ahead of the second EU Roma summit on 8 April in Cordoba, Spain, the issue of
Europe's largest ethnic minority is once again on the agenda.
Responsibility of all EU States
A recent meeting at the European Parliament saw Roma groups and MEPs meet to
discuss what can be done. Hungarian Socialist MEP Kinga Göncz said that thanks
to Roma Decade (2005-2015), the issue is no longer the problem of new member
states and candidate countries only but in the interest of the whole EU.
She said that "we are missing concrete steps on the EU, national and regional
levels. Regional Fund regulations need amending to tackle the Roma question on a
more complex level".
Use potential of unemployed
The Parliament's rapporteur for an upcoming EU strategy on Roma inclusion is
Hungarian MEP Lívia Járóka who is of Roma origin.
For her the social inclusion of Roma is not merely a moral issue but strict
financial interest of all EU members. She urged educational and labour market
integration "since the proportion of the Roma within the active population which
carries the social security system on its shoulder is growing steadily and there
is a huge potential in the unemployed population".
"We have learned from the intergovernmental initiatives of the past few years
that broad political slogans will never become reality without sanctions and
obligations. The EU as a community can provide the necessary leverage to force
the participants to comply with their own pledges", the Hungarian Roma MEP
stressed.
Civil society, solid budget cooperation with the non-Roma community is just
some of the initiatives envisaged by Ms Járóka.
The oral questions will be presented by the Socialists and Democrats group
and the Greens/EFA.
