euro|topics - The controversial Roma conference

04/07/2009

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Main focus of Thursday, September 18, 2008

The controversial Roma conference

The first EU summit on the situation of the Roma has taken place in Brussels. More than 500 representatives of European institutions, governments and civic organisations, among them representatives of the Roma and Sinti communities, convened to discuss questions dealing primarily with the discrimination of the largest European minority. What are the views of Europe's press on the meeting?

De Volkskrant - Netherlands

American financier and philanthropist George Soros has sharply criticised recent measures introduced in Italy to deal with its Roma population. With an eye to Soros' words, the Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant stresses the inefficiency of Europe's Roma policy: "This stern criticism is embarrassing for the European Commission, which had anounced it had no objections to the Italian measures. ... In recent years the EU has put 275 million euros into programmes aimed at furthering the integration of the Roma, of whom roughly a quarter to a third live in Romania and Bulgaria. But the programmes were less successful than had been hoped. One of the problems is that the EU has little say in the decisive areas: the labour market, social institutions, health systems and eduction. These areas fall under the competence of national governments." (17/09/2008)

Lidové noviny - Czech Republic

Kateřina Šafaříková, EU correspondent for the conservative daily Lidové noviny, criticises the procedure for selecting the summit participants: "Anyone who was not informed that the European Roma summit was now meeting in Brussels would never have found out. ... The organisers invited roughly 500 participants, among them representatives of important Roma organisations. Nevertheless one is easily left with the impression that this is a debate about the Roma without the Roma. Or more precisely: without the Roma whose problems are being discussed. Those present at the meeting are people who are skilled at talking with ministers and EU commissioners - the Roma elites. Livia Jarok, for example, a young and pretty member of the European Parliament from Hungary. She is a Roma, but she studied at prestigious schools in Britain and elsewhere. After appearing at the morning session she went down to the lobby and gave interviews about discrimination, poverty, miserable living conditions and stereotypes. All in impeccable English." (18/09/2008)

die tageszeitung - Germany

Miranda Voulasranta, the Finnish vice-president of the European Roma and Travellers Forum, stresses in the die tageszeitung newspaper the important message the Roma summit in Brussels sends: "It appears that the question of which Roma organisations are representative was not taken into consideration. The list of participants encompasses a hodgepodge of groups and organisations. One is forced to ask oneself according to which criteria they were selected. This is why the panorama of opinions ... is somewhat vague. On the other hand Europe's first Roma summit has pushed the issue right to the top of the political agenda. It was, after all, opened by the president of the Commission and attended by five commissioners. The European public sphere can no longer ignore the problems. The Roma are still the most discriminated and marginalised minority in Europe." (18/09/2008)

» To the complete press review of Thursday, September 18, 2008

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