The limits of integration

The weekly La Revista 22 reflects on the integration of the Roma in Romania and Europe: "If we are honest and have studied a little history we realise that the idea of integrating the Roma into a regulated society is very new. For centuries the Roma have lived on the fringes of society, whether in Persia, in the Byzantine or Ottoman Empires, Great Britain or Central and Eastern Europe. They profited from the weak and corrupt doings of the majority, just as they do in today's Romania, where without the corruption of the municipal authorities and the police the Roma clans could not get rich. They cannot be integrated overnight, nor can they be put under pressure to integrate, and above all they cannot be integrated into a weak and corrupt state in which it is more profitable to break the law than to respect it. This is evident in the integration of the Roma in Spain, which has been more successful than in Central and Eastern Europe. ... Unfortunately neither the non-governmental organisations nor the Romanian government nor the EU have an answer to the question of what sense it makes to invest billions of euros in Roma programmes that are organised by weak, incompetent and corrupt authorities."

» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Integration, » Minorities, » Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Rodica Culcer

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, August 5, 2008