Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-11-16-Speech-3-457-000"
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"Mr President, please allow me to express my gratitude on behalf of the Presidency for the opportunity to address such a serious issue as the integration of the Roma, to which the Council and Parliament have recently devoted so much attention. I am thinking mainly of the report that you – the Members of Parliament – adopted in March this year, and which was drafted by Ms Járóka, and I know that it has attracted a lot of response. Thank you very much.
Three years ago, the Council also adopted a framework decision on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law. Article 6 of the Treaty states that the Union recognises the rights, freedoms and principles set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which shall have the same legal value as the Treaties. The rights recognised in Article 20, that is equality, in Article 21, that is non-discrimination and in Article 22, that is cultural, religious and linguistic diversity, are particularly significant for the inclusion of Roma. The Council has reaffirmed the importance of these fundamental rights in recent conclusions. Let me quote: ‘The protection of fundamental rights, notably by combating discrimination and segregation, in accordance with existing EU legislation and the international commitments of the Member States, is essential for improving the situation of marginalised communities including Roma’.
The Member States are responsible for ensuring respect for the rule of law in their own countries. However, let us not dismiss the importance of our common legal framework, which provides real guarantees at European level. The Council and Parliament have been working together for many years to strengthen this framework. Here each institution has its own role to play, which has been set out in law. The Commission monitors each institution’s compliance with this law, and the Court of Justice of the European Union also plays a role here.
However, above all, it is the Member States that are responsible for respecting the values and principles which they themselves have adopted.
During the last two days – yesterday and the day before yesterday – the 5th Equality Summit took place in Poznań, Poland. We discussed how to translate these European and national policies into local and regional action. The local and regional areas are where we can effectively reach the individual citizen whose rights are being violated.
In each country we must show special sensitivity in our actions because we are dealing with diversities within the Roma community. In some countries, such as Poland, 0.1% of the community is Roma; however we do have countries in which this figure is almost 10%. We have to take into account the ethnic diversity among the Roma themselves and act so as to persuade them to cooperate with us, and not to alienate them. We need to remember that they have been living with us in Europe for 600 years, and we still have a lot to do, and that is why each country needs to prepare an action plan of its own.
Our fellow citizens of Roma origin have the same rights, the same hopes and the same expectations as we do. They are counting on our continued help. I wish to express my appreciation to Parliament for the fact that this issue has such an important place in Parliament’s work, and to thank you very much for today’s meeting and for this discussion on the situation of the Roma in Europe.
There are two main facts that are important in this entire matter. Firstly, approximately 10 million of our fellow citizens in the European Union are Roma and Sinti. This is more than the population of several of the smaller Member States put together – 10 million men, women and children. Many of them live in conditions of extreme poverty, and the opportunities they have are very severely limited. Some of them do not have any opportunities at all and cannot hope to have a life that all of us here in this House today consider to be normal and a matter of course. We all think that this is unfair and that for us – European citizens – it is a reason to be ashamed. The resolutions which the European Parliament has adopted over the last few years describe the seriousness of the situation clearly.
Secondly, Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union states that the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities, so the European Union is a community of values which are not only enshrined in law, but are also respected in life. The emphasis that the Treaty places on the rights of minorities is also a reflection of the fact that we share an awareness of our common history, which is several centuries old. There were those who not so long ago – several decades ago – survived the work of Nazism and the Roma holocaust, and their children and grandchildren are now watching in horror at what is happening in the countries of modern Europe. They are astonished at the level of discrimination, racism and violence against Roma and Sinti, and are asking the citizens of Europe for protection and assistance, including legal aid. We – the world and citizens of modern Europe – cannot make light of these problems. Our common commitments to respect human dignity, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities, cannot remain a dead law. That is why the Council has actively dealt with the transformation of this commitment into the tangible protection of our citizens who are of Roma origin. In May this year, the Council held a special meeting devoted exclusively to the issue of the integration of the Roma. In response to the appeals of the Commission and Parliament, the Council invited the Member States to achieve objectives in four key areas: education, employment, healthcare and housing.
Elimination of the differences which affect the marginalised Roma community and the general population of Europe is our common objective. We all have social problems in our countries, we all have social problems in Europe, but those who are most affected by them are those who are both marginalised and who are Roma. The main reason for this is poverty, and, as we know, this is a very complex problem which can be overcome only when action is taken on all possible fronts. After all, all citizens need good schools, decent jobs, good health care and, quite simply, a decent place to live. In Europe we consider these things to be a matter of course. We would be outraged if any of us were refused even one of these rights, while some of our fellow citizens, including many people of Roma origin, still do not have access to any of these four rights, and we can consider this as unacceptable in the 21st century.
Recognising the urgent need for action in May this year, the Council invited all Member States to develop national Roma integration strategies or integrated sets of policy measures for improving the situation of the Roma. The deadline for their preparation is the end of this year. The Council is giving its strong political support to this process. Please allow me to remind you that the European Council has approved the report drafted by the Hungarian Presidency, noted its high significance and appealed for swift implementation of the Council conclusions from May. The Commission is advising the Member States on this matter, and the Commission will also be assessing their progress in the coming months and years.
The political position of the Council is clear – and the Council is also a legislator and co-legislator – and we all know that over 10 years ago the Council adopted a directive prohibiting discrimination based on ethnic or racial origin. This directive covers the conditions for access to employment, vocational training, social protection, including social security and healthcare, education and access to and supply of goods and services, including housing. These provisions protect all ethnic groups, including the Roma. For many years this directive has been a pillar for anti-discrimination policies on which Member States can rely in the creation of their own national strategies for Roma inclusion. This directive also enables Member States actively to adopt measures to prevent or compensate for disadvantages linked to racial or ethnic origin.
As you know, we also have a directive establishing the right of citizens to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. Of course, it is the Member States that are required to implement the directives and apply their provisions in practice. The Commission is responsible for monitoring the transposition and implementation in practice of European legislation, and is authorised to institute proceedings in the case of misconduct, while the task of law enforcement belongs to the national courts and the relevant national and European authorities. The Council advocates an integrated approach, whereby problems relating to education, employment, health care and housing will be solved simultaneously. This also means integrated activities in all European countries simultaneously. These will be the main aspects of the national strategies and resources for Roma inclusion which are being prepared. The Council can only agree with you that we have to improve access to education – broadly-understood education – and we have to ensure that the Roma become the beneficiaries of employment policies. The Council advocates an integrating approach in these four key areas. In particular, the Council has invited the Member States to provide real equal access to high-quality services. One of the key conditions necessary for success, in particular at a local level and in relation to the planning and implementation of strategies, is of course the active participation of Roma communities themselves. The Council has stressed that a fundamental role here is played by civil society.
The segregation of Roma is not acceptable. In all policies we must therefore clearly promote desegregation. No place in Europe can accept that one ethnic group be channelled to special schools or receive a lower level of education. The same applies to ethnically-segregated housing, for example in slums. To summarise, segregation must be overcome.
Given the task of monitoring racist attacks in Europe, I would like to remind you that the Council has appointed a special authority, whose task it is to provide the appropriate institutions with support and knowledge relating to fundamental rights. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, which was established in 2007, collects and analyses information. It has drawn attention to the problems being faced by minorities in Europe, and this also includes the Roma. It is through the work of this agency that we know very well that, unfortunately, we have no reason to be complacent."@en1
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