The European Parliament voted on Thursday 17 September on a resolution on the implementation of National Roma Integration Strategies, aimed at combating negative attitudes towards people with Romani background, who suffer the highest rates of poverty and social exclusion in Europe.
The text, backed by Romeo Franz (Greens/EFA, Germany), was adopted by 545 votes in favour, 96 against and 54 abstentions and was not substantially changed from the version that had been voted in early September in the Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) and detailed in our article at that time (see EUROPE 12553/14).
“We call on EU member states to officially recognise anti-gypsyism, which is the main cause of social exclusion of Romani people, and take legislative measures to combat it”, said Romeo Franz after the vote, pointing out that “for too many years, policies regarding Romani people were not binding” and that it was time for this to change.
“The Commission should lead by example and establish a ‘Roma mainstreaming policy’ in order to integrate the perspective of the Romani people to all European policies and programmes”, said Anna Donáth (Hungary), shadow rapporteur for Renew Europe.
“And for being able to do so, we all need to consult with the Roma communities and make policies jointly, rather than making decisions over their heads”, she added.
The resolution received strong support from the various political groups - with the exception of the ID Group, whose 75 MEPs who took part in the vote opposed the text, and the ECR, which largely abstained.
However, this vote marks Parliament’s contribution to the European framework on strategies for Roma equality and inclusion, which will be presented shortly by the Commission, possibly as early as the first week of October, according to information obtained by EUROPE.
To view the resolution: https://bit.ly/2RAQW5W (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)