Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-11-Speech-3-179"
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"en.20050511.17.3-179"2
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".
The Council welcomes the commitment made by several Heads of State or Government on 2 February 2005 in Sofia to eliminate all forms of discrimination towards the Roma by 2015. I do not need to remind you about the debates that we have just held on the end of the Second World War and on the suffering incurred by the Roma people. That commitment is a major step given that, since 1 May 2004, the Roma communities have become the largest ethnic minority within the European Union. Due to the specific nature of their situation, their integration is a challenge of major proportions with regard to protecting fundamental rights and social inclusion.
As the Member is certainly aware, during accession negotiations with new Member States, as well as with Bulgaria and Romania, the European Union has brought up the Roma situation time and again as an area requiring political attention from the governments of those States, in particular in the light of the Copenhagen political criteria relating more specifically to the need to guarantee the respect and protection of minorities.
In confronting the challenge of integrating Roma communities, the major responsibility falls on national authorities, in addition to the regional and local authorities with the largest number of Roma inhabitants. All members of civil society together with the Roma themselves also have a vital role to play. For their part, the Member States can also implement, at Community level, various political programmes and relevant instruments relating to non-discrimination, equality of treatment and social integration. In particular, they can use the Council Directive 2000/43 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. This directive in fact covers a wide range of areas where discrimination towards the Roma can occur: employment, training, education, social protection, access to goods and services and access to housing.
Finally, Structural Funds, and particularly the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund, can finance a number of initiatives to benefit the Roma community. This is the case, in particular, with the Community initiative Equal, which is funded by the European Social Fund and is developing new approaches to fight against discrimination and inequalities, which, in the job market, specifically affect the Roma community."@en1
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