Brussels, 03/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 2 February, European Parliament (EP) President Jerzy Buzek opened the mini-session in Brussels with a statement on the recognition by the EU of the Roma genocide during World War II. In his statement, he noted that “the Roma were the third largest minority group among the victims. Unfortunately, this fact is not generally known by the Europeans. Not all EU countries have officially recognised the Roma genocide. It is time to make the citizens of Europe aware of the fact that Roma living among us, as a community, went through the trauma of genocide”. He went on: “The European Parliament is the voice of the European Union in the struggle for human rights. Today we speak for out Roma brothers and sisters. We want their suffering to be remembered and their situation to be better understood”.
Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefèoviè (inter-institutional relations, administration) said member states must do more to integrate the Roma. He confirmed that, in April, the Commission, in cooperation with the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, would adopt a European framework for Roma integration strategies, the aim being to address Roma exclusion. He added that the Commission held the defence of fundamental rights to be of prime importance in Europe. It was crucial, he said, that everyone should be able to integrate in our society.
On behalf of the EPP, Hungarian MEP Livia Jaroka called on all member states to draw attention in their school books to “our shared 700-year history” with the Roma. “We have a joint history and our future must also be shared”, she stated.
S&D deputy leader Hannes Swoboda (Austria) said that conditions had to be created that would allow the Roma to feel at home everywhere, so that they could move freely around Europe. “Once we achieve that, we will have done a lot for the Roma and we will have done exactly the opposite of what the Nazis wanted, the annihilation of the Roma in the holocaust”, he exclaimed.
For ALDE, Romanian MEP Renate Weber said she hoped the president's statement would be backed up with concrete measures in the EU and its member states, and she urged that a real European strategy on Roma inclusion be put in place. (G.B./transl.rt)