Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-12-Speech-1-105"
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"en.20071112.19.1-105"2
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"Mr President, we followed very closely the evolution of the situation in Italy. We are worried about the growing street crime and wish to express, first of all, our sympathy to the families of individuals who have been victims of criminal activities.
We are ready to assist Italy and Romania in making the best possible use of all possibilities already existing under European law and under European funds. It should be also stressed that Roma communities live in many other Member States such as France, Ireland, Spain, Slovakia, the Czech Republic or Hungary. The social inclusion of Roma communities can also be further improved in these Member States, notably through the structural funds, which can be quite helpful.
European funding, specifically targeted at the needs of Roma communities, is already available in areas such as social inclusion, the fight against discrimination, regional development and education. In the previous programming period, the structural funds made available more than EUR 275 million for Roma-related projects. An additional EUR 60 million was made available to Romania and Bulgaria between 2004 and 2006, under the pre-accession instruments. The funding of Roma-related projects will continue in the structural fund programming period 2007-2013. The European Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/EC), which covers Roma people, provides for protection against discrimination in employment, education, social security, health care, goods and services, and housing. We are actively ensuring that this legislation is applied across the EU.
Finally, as much as the Commission is not prepared to tolerate any form of discrimination or intolerance of its citizens, we equally will support Member States who lawfully protect their citizens from criminality, whether they are nationals or citizens of the Union in general. After all, freedom, justice and security go hand in hand.
We welcome the bilateral cooperation measures announced last week by the prime ministers of Italy and Romania. We will ensure that the rights of Romanians are respected, as all citizens’ rights should be.
Under the transitional arrangements to the complete opening of labour markets, Romanian nationals must apply for job permits in certain Member States. We will make sure that Member States observe the principle of non-discrimination in their national legislation and administrative practice.
The Free Movement Directive, Directive 2004/38/EC, allows for the expulsion of European citizens when an individual represents a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society. This is a decision to be made on a case-by-case basis and in the full respect of the guarantees of substance and procedure. In cases of immediate expulsion, the urgency must be duly justified. Under the Directive, the host Member State may expel European citizens also if they no longer fulfil the conditions attached to their right of residence. Inactive Union citizens may be expelled if they become an unreasonable burden on its social assistance system; in other words, if they do not have legal financial means to guarantee proper daily living conditions. In this case, expulsion shall be based on objective elements and a ban on re-entry cannot be imposed.
Expelling European citizens is an extreme measure. It is a limitation of one of the basic freedoms of the Treaty. Measures should be taken to strike the right balance between the right to free movement and the duty of each Member State to react in the interests of honest citizens when the legal conditions to stay are not fulfilled.
The Italian authorities officially notified the Commission of the text of the decree on 7 November 2007. The decree must be adopted by the Italian Parliament within 60 days. As you know, the Italian Parliament has the power to change the text of the decree. The position of the Commission on the Italian legislation transposing Directive 2004/38/EC will, of course, depend on the final version of the law as it emerges from the Italian Parliament. The decree entered into force immediately, but the Directive is sufficiently precise in its terms to be directly applicable by national courts. This means that if a Union citizen considers that the individual expulsion measure taken against him or her does not respect the guarantees laid down in the Directive, he or she can appeal before the national courts. In case of doubt on the application of European law, as you know perfectly well, national courts are obliged to refer the issue to the European Court of Justice. We will continue to monitor the situation, pending the examination of the decree by the Italian Parliament.
We are also worried about some racist and xenophobic demonstrations that have accompanied the introduction of the decree in Italy. Roma groups are the largest minority in Europe. Roma communities throughout Europe face difficult conditions. There is a long past of persecution. This situation leads to human suffering and social tension. Inclusion requires efforts by everyone concerned, including the Roma themselves. Specific protection must be given to individuals, children and women especially.
Criminals of whatever nationality very often exploit particularly vulnerable people such as children. Roma children face double discrimination. Firstly, they are victims of stereotypes and prejudice. But also they may face violations of their fundamental rights, even from within their communities. We see, too often, neglected Roma children on our streets or living in poor, often tolerated conditions in modern European
. Children may be brought into a life of crime or forced to beg. Roma schoolchildren tend to leave school early without qualifications for the future or skills to care for themselves and their families.
If we only look at a group when we consider how to protect fundamental rights, then we risk missing the protection of individuals within that group and we miss the opportunity to break the circle of wrongdoing and fear."@en1
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