Brussels, 15/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 15 February, the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament adopted, by 50 votes in favour and one against, the draft report by Livia Jaroka (EPP, Hungary) on “the EU strategy for Roma inclusion”. In it, the parliamentary committee defines its priority areas for this strategy, namely non-discrimination and human rights, education, employment, housing, healthcare and giving the Roma civil society the resources to allow it to take its own destiny in hand. The report will be put to the vote of the European Parliament at a plenary session March. The Commission will present its proposal in April and the European Council is due to adopt the strategy on 24 June 2011.
Priority areas. The member states must define the priority areas which will require more effort from the local, national and European authorities for the inclusion of the Roma. The EU must present a roadmap to bring in binding minimum levels across Europe for these priority areas. The member states should be penalised for failing to apply the priority objectives.
The strategy should attack all forms of violation of the fundamental rights of the Roma, including “discrimination, segregation, hate speech, ethnic profiling and unlawful fingerprinting, as well as unlawful eviction and expulsion”. There must also be an end to sending Roma back to their countries, where they may be subjected to torture or degrading treatment.
As regards employment, the strategy must guarantee their access to the employment market via micro-loans for entrepreneurship and self-employment. The member states and the Commission also appeal for measures to be adopted to fight black-market work and to promote the hiring of Roma staff in public administration.
The MEPs also stressed the right for Roma to have access to affordable and healthy housing and for an end to territorial segregation. All Roma citizens should also be recorded on the up-to-date registers of births, marriages and deaths.
On education, the strategy should abolish segregation in schools and classrooms by taking on Roma mediators and increasing the number of Roma teachers. The identity of Roma children should be safeguarded through teaching their own language. Similarly, equal access to education should be guaranteed for early childhood, and vocational training and lifelong learning should also be available.
Better use of European funding. The LIBE committee called for funding to be reserved to support the strategy within the cohesion policy, under the forthcoming multiannual financial framework. The MEPs plead for the creation of groups under the aegis of the task force on the Roma, to guarantee European funds for development, in support of local initiatives and to identify and report misuse of funds in time. Additionally this application of European funding should be extended to ensure that as well as development, funds for quality public services are also eligible.
Role of women. The strategy should also take account of the specific needs of Roma women, by involving them in developing policies and stopping the practice of child marriage. The need for education for girls should also be included in this strategy. (G. B/transl.fl.)