Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-14-Speech-3-436"
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"en.20070214.27.3-436"2
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"Two weeks ago saw the start of the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. Equal opportunities and the right to live without discrimination are among the key values on which the EU is based.
The Commission is well aware of the fact that the Roma are among the groups most at risk of discrimination and of being excluded from the labour market, from society, from involvement in drawing up policy and from cultural life.
Consequently, the Commission has undertaken to use all the instruments at its disposal to address the issue of the exclusion of the Roma minority.
I should like to mention two of these: firstly, the implementation of the 2000 Directive, which provides protection against discrimination on racial and ethnic grounds. The Commission wishes to ensure that this Directive be incorporated into the legislation and to be implemented properly in all Member States. Secondly, I wish to mention the use of financial instruments, specifically the Structural Funds and, most importantly, the European Social Fund.
The Commission has asked the Member States to incorporate the objective of including the Roma community when it draws up its operational plans for the financial perspective 2007-2013.
Major effort is required to increase awareness among the Roma and among the population as a whole of the right to live without discrimination and to enjoy the benefits of diversity. In this regard, the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All and the ongoing information campaign entitled ‘For Diversity, Against Discrimination’ are, in our view, extremely useful instruments.
The Commission welcomes the achievements made so far during the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 in which nine governments from Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, including five EU Member States, are currently taking part. For the first time, the national governments of these countries made a commitment to learn from each other and to exchange strategies on how to improve life for the Roma minority in areas such as employment, education, housing and healthcare.
The Commission welcomes the fact that all of this is taking place in close cooperation with the Roma community. We also need policies geared toward the future. The high level group for the social and labour market integration of ethnic minorities set up by the Commission is paying special attention to issues relating to the Roma community. The group will publish its recommendations at the end of the year, which we are sure will provide extremely valuable information for future European policy on the inclusion of ethnic minorities, including the Roma.
Lastly, Madam President, I should like to point out that the Commissioners’ Group on Fundamental Rights will deal with all of these issues in their meeting scheduled for July this year."@en1
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