The institutions' policy on the Roma primarily regards the integration of the Roma as a regional matter for the new Member States and candidate Member States.

The events of the recent past in certain old Member States remind us that the plight of the Roma is a European issue. Responsibility is borne in common, primarily because, in the new Member States and the candidate Member States, the situation of the Roma has not fundamentally changed since enlargement or in anticipation thereof; their integration has come to a standstill or not even begun, as a result of which an unprecedented exodus of Roma people to the old Member States is beginning.

In the countries to which they are moving in search of a new homeland, they represent a new type of challenge to integration policy, as without a genuine intention of acceptance and an integration strategy, they will be just as marginalised and defenceless as in the country they came from.

Reference: A6-0038/2009. Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Rapporteur: Magda Ksn Kovcs.
 

 

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