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24.01.2014 The Focus magazine propagates the mass exodus from Romania and Bulgaria

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Dometeit/Lehmkul (2014) report from Romania. Armed with dubious facts they argue that there indeed a mass migration to Western Europe and especially Germany is taking place. They portray poorly trained Rroma in western Romania who hardly earn a living and see their future opportunities in Western Europe. According to the authors, all Rroma that have a reasonably decent life have been abroad for a shorter or longer period of time: “When the labor markets in the EU open at the beginning of the year, everyone will go”, predicts Stefan and grins. “Then we will all meet like on a huge wedding party.” The big goal: North Rhine-Westphalia. Tens of thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians migrate annually. 30’000 people from the two countries came in 2012 (comparing to 18 500 people emigrating). 2013 there will be even more immigrants, the Ministry of Labour, Integration and Social Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia predicts.” Dometeit/Lehmkul totally ignore that the statistics, as has already been discussed several times, count seasonal workers and therefore are massively exaggerated. That all Romanians and Bulgarians living in poverty will migrate to Germany is very unlikely, as the expansion of free migration to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland has already shown. Masses of immigrants didn’t show up. Dometeit/Lehmkuhl provide a highly one-sided picture of Rroma. Those who have become rich are immediately associated with illegal activities: “On the so-called rose park there are palaces Roma clans have built through business in Germany. Most of them are empty, the shutters are lowered. Two or three times a year the families come to celebrate. Then the Porsches and Ferraris show up. Two years ago, the police raided some of the villas at the request of the German prosecutor’s, based on suspicions of tax evasion, money laundering and human traffeking.” Such reporting is simplistic and patronizing. Dometeit/ Lehmkuhl completely ignore that there are well integrated, upright Rroma

This one-sided perspective is shared by the Schweizer Magazin (2014). The online newspaper favors polemical generalizations and simplifications: “Sinti and Roma, as well as other social welfare benefiters from Romania and Bulgaria – the two poorest countries in Europe – are ready to flood Germany and to enrich themselves with the social benefits. Only the economy may approve, since every immigrant from these poor countries depresses the wages and thus complicates the lives of all Europeans and only increases the profits of the companies.” To designate the Rroma people generally as social welfare benefiters is racist and stupid. Much more need not being said about this.

The Baltische Rundschau (2014) strengthens fears of a mass immigration from Eastern Europe. The article is openly racist and speaks of social parasites and brown rats who are supposedly coming from Serbia to plunder the German welfare state: “After the wave of Roma who migrate as official EU citizens from Romania and Bulgaria to the German welfare state, more and more Gypsies are now coming from Serbia. However, these do not use the “privileged” status as EU citizens to flood the labour market and welfare system, but make use of the German asylum law. In 2013, the asylum applications from Serbia increased by 40 percent, almost all asylum seekers are Roma.” The Rroma Contact Point has stated very often that the prognosis of a mass immigration to Western Europe is wrong. Moreover, not all immigrants automatically become welfare cases. A reduction of the west migration to the case of the Rroma is racist and ethnicizes poverty problems.

The right-wing populist platform unzensuriert.at (2014) is even more racist. It propagates the concept of a culture war and the collapse of the German welfare state. The pretentious statements are one-sided, distorted, highly selective interpretations of the real situation. The platform forecast an additional influx of 200,000 Romanians and Bulgaria to Germany for the current year: “The city of Duisburg is paying dearly for the unrestricted immigration of Roma clans. For the year 2014, the city administration predicts additional costs of at least 12 million Euro for the “integration” of immigrant Gypsies from Romania and Bulgaria. Meanwhile, some 10,000 Roma live in the Ruhr city. Entire neighborhoods such as Duisburg-Rheinhausen are firmly in the hands of the Gypsies. Germans, but also guest workers from Turkey and former Yugoslavia living here for many years, already feel as strangers.” With such polemical statements unzensuriert.at does intellectual arson and endangers social peace. Such xenophobic statements have nothing to do with freedom of speech and freedom of the press. 

A differentiated and liberal attitude towards the immigration debate is taken by Maike Freund (2013). She argues for complexity and rationalism concerning the predictions of a mass immigration: “Who goes through Neukölln in Berlin or the northern city of Dortmund, knows that such scenes or similar belong to the reality in Germany – but they are only one part of the truth. Because the numbers say: there are many highly educated immigrants, also from Romania and Bulgaria, and Germany relies on these professionals.”

Mappes-Niediek (2014) speaks of the conflicting reactions to the polemical predictions about the mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. Thus, ethnic Romanians and Bulgarians often separate themselves from the Rroma in response to the Western European criticism: “That’s not us, that’s the Roma: This is still the first reflex when some of the German and British debates over poverty migration spill into the Rumanian and Bulgarian public.” Mappes-Niediek criticizes that a poverty problem is turned into an ethnic problem by distinguishing between ethnic Romanians and the Rroma. After the collapse of the socialist system, the ethnic Romanians were given back the possessions of their ancestors, who had been collectivized. Since a large part of the Rroma had possessed nothing before socialism, they emerged as losers from the change of system: “Only the Roma got back nothing because their grandparents hadn’t possessed anything. They moved into the slums, from which the poverty immigrants of today emerge. This allows both the German and the Romanian public to keep the poverty problem a Roma problem – which it is not. If there were no Roma, there would not be any more jobs.” The migration debate is also dominated by a double standard: one hand, one likes to get the well-trained professionals for the German economy – especially doctors – on the other hand one wants to keep out the less well-off.

Antiziganism researcher Markus End criticizes the term “poverty migration” as being negatively charged and equated with Rroma in the public debate. The Rroma are discredited as being lazy and social parasites. End criticizes this depiction and reminds one of the integrated, invisible Rroma: “They were sweepingly referred to as lazy and welfare scroungers. It was said that they are noisy, produce garbage, and are prone to crime. People who follow the media regularly have learned that Roma are poverty immigrants. [ … ]. In the debate, Roma are represented as strangers, even though many have being living in Germany since generations. Also that there are educated and uneducated Rroma, rich and poor, is totally neglected in the debate. The term Roma is used almost synonymous with poverty, crime or waste.” Liberal journalists are also spreading antiziganist stereotypes, even though they welcome the immigration of skilled workers. A liberal journalist from Die Welt compares well-educated, ethnic Romanians and Bulgarians with criminal, antisocial Rroma, producing a value list of welcomed and unwelcomed immigrants. End comes to the conclusion that the coverage of the Rroma is the most biased of all minorities (Grunau 2014).

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17.01.2014 Poverty-migration and the Rroma

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Nuspliger (2014) gives a cursory overview of the debate on poverty-migration and on the feared predictions of mass migrations to Western Europe. He qualifies the images of right-wing conservatives who predict a strong west migration from Romania and Bulgaria in 2014. Many residents of these countries migrated abroad in 2007 after the EU accession and did not wait for the unrestricted movement of persons. The statistics about the poverty-migration regularly treat seasonal workers and students as equivalent to real labour migrants and therefore create a distorted picture of migration movements. In addition it is observed that many would-be migrants go into countries with diaspora groups or related languages: “Against the backdrop of the northern European fears of a Romanian mass immigration it is remarkable that, according to Eurostat figures of 2012, over three quarters of exile Romanians have moved to Spain and Italy – for which there are also linguistic reasons. Half of relocated European Portuguese are living in France and three-quarters of the emigrants of Poland live in the UK and Germany, which attracted many immigrants from Eastern Europe before the end of the licensing restrictions in 2011.” Rroma are being disadvantaged as before. The funding provided by the EU is only insufficiently used. Additionally, Rroma slums in Western Europe are the evidence of the lack of integration of this ethnic group. In the debates on immigration, meanwhile, images of social abuse dominate the discourse, which is taken up readily by polemicists.

Lübberding (2014) discusses the TV program “Maybrit Illner” on the topic “poverty on the move: how much freedom of movement can we afford?” The participants of the discussion were the Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann, the Green politician Cem Özdemir, the Councillor of Berlin-Neuköln Franziska Giffey, the head of the German police union  Rainer Wendt, the Duisburger citizen Sabine Kessler and the Rrom Dzoni Sichelschmidt. They discussed the pro and cons of unrestricted migration in the European Union. Lübbering shares the opinion that most of the immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria are Rroma, although the ethnicity is not recorded in the statistics. He states that in the city of Duisburg, with around 500,000 inhabitants, the 10,000 new immigrants are of Rroma origin. Lübberding takes side with the critics of unrestricted migration in the European Union when making fun of the integration targets of the European Union. He claims that the Union lacks sense of practice: “The error of the Brussels bureaucracy is not in their ambitious plans, but in the ignorance of their ambitiousness. On power-point slides just everything looks better than in the neighbourhood of Mrs. Kessler.” On the other hand it is a positive aspect of European networking that the problem of Rroma integration has now become a pan-European issue and no longer just concerns the countries with significant Rroma populations. Additionally, Lübberding qualifies the dimensions of immigration, which are anything but dramatic. Compared with the 1.2 million refugees who have fled from the civil war in Syria to Lebanon, the immigration to Germany is very modest. Dzoni Sichelschmidt emphasised the important fact that the Rroma have emerged in large part as losers from the events of 1989: the hostility towards them has risen. This circumstance is often neglected in Western Europe (compare ZDF 2014).

In debate about immigration, Kelec (2014) takes a right-wing conservative position. Additionally, with respect to Rroma, she present cultural arguments. She sees an unrestricted immigration as a failed policy of ignorance. Kelec accuses the left parties of downplaying the problems of reality and accusing right-wing populism of being responsible for everything. The Christian Democrats are supposed to insist stubbornly on their values. On Rroma she pretentiously claims: “The children of Sinti and Roma are left alone, in the Clans, medieval conditions often prevail [ … ]. Roma children are sent by their parents and clan chiefs to beg or work on the street – they are supposed to be in school. They also have an EU-wide right to childhood and education. In Roma families child-marriages and forced marriage is common – the right to independence and integrity must also apply for young girls and women. There can be no tradition of being above the constitution, even if some believe that medieval manners as “culture” are worthy of protection.” With these unwise generalizations Kelec discredits herself. She represents traditions and media cases as if they were deadlocked and universal. Her remarks are racist and offensive to a majority of the Rroma who do not follow these practices. Kelec reproduces uncritically polemical ideas about backwardness and exploitation that have nothing to do with the identity of the Rroma. Accusing Rroma living in poverty of their poverty as a crime is arrogant and stupid. Criticism of the traditions, which are no traditions, is no intelligent criticism.

Teigeler (2013) points out the important fact that the debate about unrestricted migration in the European Union is dominated by fears and irrational predictions. Before Poland’s accession to the Schengen area there were similar fears of a mass migration, which turned out to be unfounded. The discussion also often tends to forget the fact that with the immigrants also important needed professionals are recruited. Labelling immigrants sweepingly as poverty immigrants and benefit-freeloaders simplifies the complexity of reality too much: “With the multiple accusations that immigrants and in particular Roma from South Eastern Europe “will subvert the social system, old racist stereotypes are stoked”, criticized the speaker of the Green Party parliamentary group, Jutta Velte, on Tuesday (31/12/2013). “We need a more objective debate”, the representative urged.” 

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20.12.2013 Minute of Silence at the Rroma Murdered in Germany

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The Bundesrat of Germany commemorated this week with a minute of silence to the Rroma murdered under the Nazis. Around 500,000 Rroma, some estimates put the number significantly higher, fell victim of the genocide of the fascist regime. Germany discussed this year in details the possible consequences of the “Poverty immigration” from South Eastern Europe, and the Rroma were at the centre of the debate. A lot of non-objective and polemical statements were made about them but the historical guilt of Germany towards Rroma was rarely addressed: “”It is a humanitarian imperative that we never forget this genocide,” said the President of the Bundesrat, Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD), on Thursday in the Bundesrat in Berlin. It was the “collective failure of an entire generation.” The Bundesrat remebers every year the so-called Auschwitz Decree by the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler. T On December 16th, 1942 he ordered the deportation of members of certain ethnic groups in the concentration camp of Auschwitz –Birkenau”  (Greenpeace Magazine, 2013).

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13.12.2013 European Rroma Policies: A Sobering Result at Year End

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Riesbeck (2013) discusses the prospects of the European Rroma policies, which are aimed at the promotion of Rroma in the areas of education, health, employment, and housing. The results of theses policy is meanwhile sobering. The current project that has now been running for two years does not get the ball rolling. One of the reasons for the lack of success stories is the lack of legal means of the EU administration: “The States indicate their goals in the Roma strategy, but the European Commission has no legal basis to call for the implementation of these objectives and make them binding.” therefore, the European Rroma policies fall to bureaucratic hurdles between EU policies and programs of the respective nation-states. In addition, Rroma are themselves insufficiently involved in the projects. One talks about and for them, but not with them. 7sur7 (2013) sees a fundamental problem in the voluntariness of the implementation of EU decisions on the part of the EU Member States.

Mappes-Niediek sees an alternative to increasing educational achievements among Rroma, something which does not necessarily guarantees a real improvement, in the creation of social funds to cover the basic needs of all EU residents. His thought stems from the fact that education alone cannot eliminate the discrimination by the majority society (Gędziorowski 2013).

Meanwhile, several Western European countries are trying to stem the migration of Rroma. Members of the EU Parliament again spoke against restrictive practices towards Rroma: “EU countries must stop illegal expulsion of Roma people and end ethnic profiling, police abuse and human rights violations perpetrated against them, says Parliament in a non-binding resolution adopted on Thursday. It assesses member states’ strategies to boost Roma integration and calls for more funds to prevent discrimination and reach small community projects” (European Parliament 2013). The undeniable tension between national political programs and pan-European plans are visible in particular also in the European Rroma policies. While the EU insists on integration and recognition, conservative politicians in Germany, France and Great Britain propagate an isolationist policy (see Flechter 2013).

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13.12.2013 Rroma from South Eastern Europe: Economic Migrants or Refugees?

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The Welt (2013) reports currently on practices against migrant Rroma in Hamburg. The responsible Minister of the Interior Michael Neumann wants to continue the deportations of asylum seekers from South Eastern Europe, despite the massive criticism from Greens, the Left and the FDP. This does not mean, according to the Interior Minister that the deportations were not individually critically examined. Again, one must be amazed that migrants from Southeast Europe are held from the outset for Rroma, although this fact is not recorded in the statistics. Many immigrants from the Balkans are members of other ethnic groups. However, it is true that Rroma are particularly affected by exclusion. Radio Dreyeckland (2013) rightly criticised that the protection rate of asylum applications from Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia-Hercegovina fixed at 5% is too low. Many Rroma in these countries are discriminated against and should not therefore be treated as pure poverty refugees. This is also criticized by Jelpke (2013): The asylum applications of immigrants from the Western Balkans are being processed in shorter and shorter periods. This is due to the coalition agreement between the CDU and the SPD. This document plans to declare the western countries of South Eastern Europe to be “safe countries”. This makes it increasingly difficult for migrants from these countries to get a successful asylum application. A protective claim is still just awarded 0.1 to 0.6 percent of applicants from Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, meanwhile decided a deportation moratorium for the winter months (Carini 2013).

Haug (2013), in his article, points to the discrepancy between integration efforts communicated by the State and the real experienced exclusion. Rroma deported to Serbia mostly find there an income on the edge of society or live on welfare. Against the official statement of Serbia, that Rroma are not persecuted in the country stand in contrast to the misery and hopelessness: “Where it can be, they are marginalized, the victims reported. You get no jobs and are not informed of your rights. Even for food the meagre money barely suffice. […] “On paper, there are now many measures to end discrimination against these people,” says the lawyer. The trip did however convinced him that: “In daily life the affected ones feel little of it””

The President of the German Association of Cities Ulrich Maly goes against simple explanations in connection with immigrants from Southeast Europe. The migrants are often discriminated against and are hoping for a better life in Germany. He appealed to the historical responsibility of Germany in dealing with minorities and argued against a policy of isolation, as demanded by several parties. Rather, one must promote the integration in Germany and in the countries of origin: “These are not people who come and go with open hands to the administration. They come for other reasons. Because they are oppressed at home, perhaps even feel persecuted. They come because they believe that they will find a better life with us. These are reasons that one initially must respect.” Maly therefore goes against an alliance of politicians and citizens fearing a “social tourism” on the German social welfare system from the beginning of 2014. Bulgarians and Romanians will then be able to search unrestricted fro work in the European Union, thanks to the European free Movement Agreement (Kusicke 2013).

Leber (2013) sees the debate about immigration marked by varying degrees of coverage in social systems. The “general principle of European free movement” meets various forms of social welfare. That, however, this is not necessarily a contradiction in a polemical debate, however, it is often forgotten. Instead, it is dominated by a politics of fear, which flattens the heterogeneity of migration phenomena and propagandises the immigration of unskilled problem cases. It is this utilitarian thinking is criticized by Koch (2013) in his account of the problem. It means a ranking of people on questionable, inhuman principles.

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13.12.2013 Rroma Debate in Germany

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Kühn (2013) informs about the evacuation of several Rroma settlements in Duisburg. The houses, the majority of whom belong to a controversial real estate speculator who had already received a large coverage in the German media this year. One-sided reports of littering, noise, theft, prostitution, and begging evoked a distorted, almost absurd image of Rroma unwilling to integrate and adapt. Again and again, local residents were quoted as saying that their way of life was incompatible with the one of the new residents. The homeowner – Branko Barisic – now lets residents to be gradually evicted from his buildings and he will set up social flats or apartments for the elderly. He also speaks of Rroma as social parasites and discredits them unjustly as poverty migrants, with no valid reason for migration: “Most of them could not care less where they live. They want to enjoy the benefits of our welfare state. They need not live in Bergheim” (Kühn 2013/II). That many Rroma are well integrated and that many are also victims of massive discriminations in their countries of origin is once again not mentioned here.

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06.12.2013 The Media Coverage on Rroma in Switzerland is One-Sided and often Defamatory

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On behalf of the Federal Commission against Racism, the Research Institute for the Public and Society of the Zurich University made a study on the quality of the reporting in Swiss media about Rroma (Ettinger, 2013; compare NZZ, 2013; 20 Minuten, 2013; Südostschweiz, 2013). The study examined a representative sample of Swiss media of the period from 2005 to 2012. The study concludes that the contributions are highly selective and unbalanced: in the daily press on Switzerland,  Rroma are almost only referred to in relation to asylum abuse, begging, theft, or prostitution. They appear primarily as perpetrators or in the case of prostitution as the victims of clan-related forced prostitution. While some Rroma come to word in various newspapers, the tendency to let officials talk about them dominates “Because of the focus on crime and deviant behaviour, representatives of the executive branch (24%), respectively of the police (12%) and the judiciary (6%) are the ones who most frequently come to word” (Ettinger 2013). The coverage is dominated by an image of an enemy that hypes up individual cases as precedents and builds them to an attestation of the culturally determined Rroma delinquency, which needs not be further explained: “The explanation of the rationale behind their statements is waived in particular by spokesman for the police (60 %), who limits their statements to delinquent behaviour of Roma, and almost without exception the citizen who argument on the basis on the basis of their subjective concerns whose aversions and fears are expressive statements that do not require a justification.” The alleged facts are therefore based on suspicions and on the willingness to believe them as facts.

In the reporting on Rroma outside of Switzerland in turn dominated by the perspective of portraying Rroma as the victims of discrimination and exclusion. The usual defamation about Rroma in Switzerland are largely ignored.

However, the study does not sufficiently question to what extent journalists and concerned citizens just assume that the people one reports on are Rroma. The attribution of a Rroma identity to conspicuous people is not looked into and considered to be problematic, but simply taken as given. This became clear in particular in the study of the Zurich street prostitution that simply postulated that the women in question are Rroma. How these statistics came about, is not problematized: “The majority of sex workers surveyed include the groups of the two Roma groups Romunro or Olah on”  (Sex Educatio 2012: 43). A clear identification of ethnicity is anything but simple, as the case around the blonde Rroma girl has shown.

On the Rroma Contact Point side, we find it would be great to give unspectacular topics such as the lives of integrated Rroma a voice and speak of their everyday life in order to create a counterweight to the negative representations. Ettinger notes: Although “Roma themselves come to word in no small numbers in reporting, t in 13 percent of the contributions they present their reactions. But the opinions the Roma and respectively Jenische are usually only reactions to existing problems. Roma or Jenische therefore are not able to contribute their own issues and positions in the reporting.”

The aspect of the political instrumentalisation of the Rroma to political ends falls short in this study even though Ettinger notes that Rroma are exploited before votes for partisan political ends. But the continuous values projection on Rroma by politically varied oriented daily and weekly media are too little criticised. Yet it is precisely the Rroma who are continuously abused as a counter point to the construction of a civic identity. Ettinger’s study therefore lacks a historical perspective on the aspect of discrimination that could thematise the socio-political aspect of the exclusion. This view would show that there is a tradition of prejudice against Rroma that has been perpetuated for centuries. A good source in this respect is Klaus-Michael Bogdal (2011) study on the dissemination of false, distorting culturalisms. Another problem is that the misrepresentation of Rroma on poverty-related phenomena such as illiteracy, begging, prostitution, high childbirth rates, or low level of education is not discussed critically. It is not enough to expose these representations as racist. They must be identified as wrong and distorting representations. Otherwise, the impression may arise that while the coverage was indeed distorted, there nevertheless is a culture of delinquency and exploitation among Rroma, which, due to political correctness, one must not mention. In the context of the poverty immigration to Germany, numerous journalists are arguing this way. Rather, social problems such as poverty and exclusion must be considered as such. In addition, cultural explanations that are based on prejudice and not on effective knowledge must be recognised as such and deconstructed.

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06.12.2013 The Rroma and the European Free Movement of Persons

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The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma criticized the agreement of EU interior ministers to curb the free movement of persons in the EU. The European Interior Ministers have agreed this week to reduce the allowances for needy immigrants and, where appropriate, again can introduce a visa duty to restrict larger migration flows from South East Europe (Handelsblatt, 2013). The curb on migration within the EU will not solve any problems, but freeze and uphold the dependency structures and injustice among the States. There is also no denying that the exclusion of Rroma is practiced more in some countries than in others.

The German towns President Ulrich Maly asked meanwhile for more tolerance towards immigrants and appealed to the historical responsibility of Germany towards the minority of the Rroma (Unternehmen-Heute 2013).

Böhm (2013) meanwhile suggests that a veritable “competitive repression”  against Rroma is taking place. Western European countries such as France, Germany, or the UK up each others on measures aimed at wanting to limit immigration from Romania and Bulgaria. The widespread exclusion of Rroma, which only make the migration necessary and the real problem is usually ignored. Instead, virtually all immigrants from Southeast Europe are collectively identified as poverty immigrants and thus as migrants, who apart from their poverty have no real reason for asylum (20 Minuten, 2013). Furthermore one often forgets that the assessments of the security of countries done by the states to assess the discrimination of minorities such as the Rroma are often inadequate or euphemistic, especially if the analysis comes from the countries themselves. To declare the immigrants from South East Europe broadly as poverty immigrants ignores real practices of exclusion that are not looked at by these country assessments.    

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29.11.2013 Segregation through an Integration Project?

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Klapheck (2013) reports on the integration project “Maro Temm” [Our country] in Kiel. The program financed 50 settlements for Sinti that were built in the district of Gaarden in the suburbs. The report, filled with a lot of empathy nevertheless gives a fairly questionable image of integration and Rroma: the journalist talks at the beginning of the settling the Sinti. Most Rroma are not travellers. In addition, settling Rroma in ethnically segregated quarters should really be questioned. How can an exchange take place with non-Rroma if they live in segregated settlements? Segregation is already there even without the help of such integration projects. The fact that the interviewed Sinti speak of widespread illiteracy among the Rroma is also one-sided. This is not true of many integrated Rroma living in Germany. They are simply hidden in this report. Klapheck evokes an emphatic but highly one-sided picture of Sinti and Germany. This also criticized by Romani Rose in his interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung (2013).

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29.11.2013 Support versus recognition of the Rroma

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Mappes-Niediek (2013) provides information about a restaurant project in the Slovenian town of Maribor. The restaurant will be operated by Rroma and to a certain extent reduce the high unemployment locally. Against this project co-initiated by the mayor, local resistance has been organised: the critics, among them local representatives, fear that the restaurant will become a Rroma meeting place where there will be only Rroma. The cook Ajša Mehmeti decidedly stated that she wants it to be a restaurant for all. For Slovenes, Serbs, Bosnians and Rroma. But for the project to work, it needs not only the support of the mayor, but also the support of the local population. So far, this is missing: “Meanwhile, the Roma have the key for the local. The contract is signed, an architect has looked at the rooms. But the Maribor Rroma do not look like winners. Friendliness or integration you can not just win by fighting.”

On the basis of the fate of the young Rrom Orhan Jasarovski, Gojdka (2013) discusses the injustices of the social structures and asylum procedures. Orhan has epilepsy and a lame leg. He came with his family as a youngster from Macedonia to Germany. Here he hopes for a better life outside of poverty and exclusion. He works hard and wants to study. But the German migration authority has other plans. Orhan and his family have to return to Macedonia. After numerous legal hurdles and thanks to the support of German helpers, he manages to make it back to Germany. But the recognition as Rrom remains difficult. As before, there is a clear discrepancy between verbally expressed sympathy and real recognition: “In a literature seminar at the university a lecturer speaks finally about Sinti and Roma: “An anti-social people on the margins of society”. Jasarovski boils. His pulse skyrockets. Every word is like a knife in his heart. Anger about the lecturer. Rage over his own cowardice not to have outed oneself. Then Jasarovski stands up. “I know best what Roma are,” he says, “I ‘m Gypsy.” Many friends renounce their friendship. Too deep are the literary and non-literary stereotypes of the thieving Gypsies, the travellers and the child abductors. In the literature, one must analyse these pictures scientifically, says Jasarovski. But he also knows that he can not meet the bitter reality scientifically.”

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15.11.2013 Cementing of Prejudices with the Case of Maria

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In the case of the blond bulgarian Rroma girl Maria, Scholz (2013) sees a renewed strengthening of racist prejudices against Rroma. Both the researcher on racism Wolfgang Benz, as well as the Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, criticized the reporting of numerous media as well as the actions of the involved police agencies as being based on “racist patterns”. The un-reflected articles promoted the exclusion and general prejudice against Rroma living in Europe. Rose, according to  Scholz, loudly criticised the one-sidedness of the reporting that always relies only on problem cases and completely neglects the “invisible” integrated Rroma: “A few days ago in an interview with the “Südeutsche Zeitung” Rose had already warned  against “always focusing on only one part of the Roma.” One must distinguish between the ones “who live in anonymity and those who lead a perfectly normal life in Germany”.” Rose further calls for the establishment of a committee of experts to examine antiziganism in Germany and who would make public (also compare German Wave 2013).

Peters (2013) precises that according to a recent survey, 64 % of Germans would reject Rroma as neighbours. And this even though many already have Rroma as neighbours, but do not know it because they keep their identity secret. Peters also draws clear parallels to the discrimination against the Jews with reference to Wolfgang Benz. Such journalism would not be allowed in Germany about the Jewish minority due to the historical events. But for Rroma surprisingly, this is acceptable. Rose criticizes: “Worldwide, missing children are now suspected to be among Roma. Hundreds of parents now hope that their missing children are alive and were abducted by Roma. This makes all Sinti and Roma to potential child thieves.”

Gezer (2013) comes to a dismal conclusion about the current acceptance of Rroma in Europe. The public image is dominated by negative stereotypes, Rroma are used as scapegoats and as a projection for a wide range of social fears and debates that are taking place on their back: fears of immigration, of change, economic impoverishment, “Yes, Europe has a new villain, he is called Roma and is everywhere. The new villain has dark skin, sings and steals, gives his children no shoes on because it is their tradition to do so. In Europe it is acceptable again to stigmatize a group because of their ethnicity.” She especially criticizes the silence of many politicians and public figures who hush up the blazing racism against Rroma. It is the same type of behaviour that was observed when the migrants were the Turks.

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08.11.2013 Rroma and the Zurich Street Prostitution

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Bracher (2013) in her article presents a shocking picture of humiliated, exploited women to be reintegrated back into Hungarian society by the Hungarian Baptist Aid Charity after their exit from prostitution. Two-thirds of them were Rroma. The women were all victims of pimps – often their own brothers, uncles or friends – who threatened them with violence or already applied it and under whose influence they mostly still stood. The interviews were all done by Bracher in the presence of a member of the charity and favour a victim’s perspective with a “Loverboy” havin pushed the women into prostitution. It is says for example: “With 24 Valeria met a man who promised her an income opportunity in Budapest. Whether she then knew then that it was about prostitution? She denies it, perhaps out of shame. When she learns in Budapest what is expected of her, she wants to go home. But the man threatened her that he will kill her grandmother. […] Onlyl last February Katalin did return from Zurich. Her then boyfriend took her to Zurich and told her there that he had sold her to a pimp. He brought her in a hotel where she was coerced into prostitution.” Without any intention to playing down forced prostitution, a question arises due to the discrepancy between Bracher’s representations and the opinions of women and prostitutes organisations  These paint a different picture that does not correspond to the exploitation of Rroma by Rroma. The prostitutes organisations Dona Carmen (2013 ), Hyra (2013) and the Zurich Institute against the trafficking of women and women migration (2013) describe forced prostitution as a marginal phenomenon that constitutes the exception, not the rule. Rather, the economic misery is the cause for prostitution, usually voluntary. Poverty is therefore what needs to be addressed, not the prostitution itself. Moreover, one should not only always speak about, but one must also discuss with the prostitutes: “It is not a great job. It is a tough job. But it annoys us when sex workers are always portrayed as victims. They are not. Many of them are strong, wise women who make a living and that of their families and are small entrepreneurs. They are victims only because of the stigma of sex work” (Boos 2013). Here, however, great caution should be exercised before playing down forced prostitution. Dona Carmen (2013) refers in its presentation on police statistics on declining, even almost non-existent cases of human trafficking in Germany. The reliability of these statistics is to be doubted, as the identification of human trafficking is far from clear and simple. The same goes for the other side, the one claiming that each case of prostitution is the result of trafficking. To describe the exploitation of Rroma by Rroma as standard case is to be decidedly questioned. It corresponds to the Weltwoche view that sees Rroma society as a hierarchically organised clan structure.

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01.11.2013 Rroma in Germany

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In her article, Levy (2013) tries to present some individual stories that can create an antithesis to the widespread stereotypes about Rroma. For example, based on the Sinti family Braun: The family take an important role. This includes regular visits to the grandparents, often twice a week because respect for elders is very important. The 21-years old Daniel keeps his identity secret from his classmates. Too great is the fear of misunderstanding and rejection: ““In school, I have not outed myself as Sinto. Because I’m afraid that it brings disadvantages, that one talks bad about me“ Gypsy, that curse word,  he has heard that too many times. “One forgot to gas you”, his grandparents had to hear from their neighbours. “Then you dare no more,” says Daniel, and says nothing”” The integrated Sinti see themselves again confronted with prejudice following the immigration of Rroma from Southeast Europe. They have many children, are poor, begg, steal, and are a burden to the German social welfare system as is often read in the media. Nevertheless they solidarise with the immigrants.

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25.10.2013 Rroma Debate in Germany

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Memarina (2013) spoke with Marius Krauss from the youth club “Foro Amaro” who works on the participation of Rroma and Gadje in the society. Krauss sees the statements of Interior Minister Friedrich, who for months warned of a mass immigration of Rroma from Romania and Bulgaria, as being dominated by fear and prejudice. Among Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants there is just approximately 10 percent of Rroma. Many present this migration as being solely Rroma. The same holds true with the beggars in Berlin: “Among beggars, there are many who have no Roma background. They are made only to: Begging is being made as a Roma characteristic, poverty and theft also.”  Krauss thus points to the important fact that many people with non-standard behaviour are attributed a Rroma identity and vice versa, Rroma who actually do not meet these requirements are stigmatised. This includes the image of the many children in Rroma families. In the case of the immigrant Rroma from the village of Fontanelle, the fact that the community in question were evangelical Pentecostals was ignored. Because of their faith they cannot use cotraceptives. That this is not true for all Rroma who belong to different faiths, it is all to often forgotten.

Lechler (2013) reports on the clearance of an informal Rroma neighbourhood in Eforie in Romania. By focusing on the destruction of Rroma settlements in Romania, Lechler wants to identify possible reasons for the migration to Western Europe that go beyond a simple economic migration. The observance of minority rights in Romania is very poor when compared with Germany.

Bade (2013) takes a critical look at the current immigration debate in Germany and puts the predicted mass immigration through historical facts: After the accession to the EU of countries such as Poland, a mass exodus was not observed, and the published statistics on 147,000 Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants in 2011 are not reliable sources, “then one should have considered the strong annual return migration, for example of seasonal workers. In this sense, for example for 2011, there was a net balance approximately 64,000 immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania not mentioned in the noise raised by the cities about the 147,000 migrants. This led to an equally sensational correction by a critical group of scientists who quoted the statistic of the cities is their ‘non-statistic of the month’.” Bade sees the polemical remarks about the so-called poverty immigration greatly influenced by the debate on the book by Tilo Sarrazin influenced and with its associated polemics around of integration and alterity.

 

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18.10.2013 Rroma in Germany

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Radio Dreyeckland (2013) provides information on planned agreement between the state of Baden Württemberg and the National Association of German Sinti and Roma. The draft contract recapitulates the historically documented exclusion of the Rroma, the historical responsibility of Germany in dealing with minorities and the poor introspection about the German Rroma policies. The objective of the treaty is a targeted promotion of Rroma in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Access to education and thus also to the labour market should be strongly supported. The draft of the treaty states: “The exclusion and discrimination of Roma and Sinti dates back to the Middle Ages. The cruel persecution and genocide by the Nazi regime brought immense suffering to Sinti and Roma in our country and effects people to this day. This injustice has only been recognized politically embarrassing late, and has not yet worked out sufficiently. Even the antiziganism is still existent and not overcome. Being aware of this particular historic responsibility towards Sinti and Roma as citizens of our country and guided by the desire and motivation to promote the friendly coexistence.”

Pekdemir Hagen (2013) reports on Hasiba Dzemajlji who is engaged in Bielefeld for a better integration and recognition of the Rroma. Dzemajlji wants more Rroma in Germany, Rroma who have been living in the country for decades to publicly declare their identity. For fear of exclusion and discrimination many people of Rroma origins keep it secret. Together with the organization Migovita, Dzemajlji wants to strengthen the self-confidence, especially of young Rroma, and facilitate their access to education. She also wants to create a counter point to the still heavily rooted stereotypes, a new view that is characterized by heterogeneity and complexity.

Niewendick (2013) discusses the increasing radicalisation of local residents and politicians, who make propaganda against immigrated Rroma: During the last one and a half years, systematically, rumours of “thieving Kids”, littering and other prejudices about immigrants Rroma have been spread. The tensions achieved a peak in the fire of the “Rroma houses” on 9 October, a fire whose cause is still unclear. The heavily politicised situation manifests itself besides open demonstrations for and against Rroma with questionable expressions such as “problem house” and “flood of poverty refugees poverty”.

At the opening of a new interim dormitory for refugees in Duisburg, Kleinwächter (2013) discussed the situation of Rroma in Kosovo. Bernd Mesovic, Vice-President of Pro Asyl Frankfurt is cited with gloomy assessments on the integration of the Rroma in Kosovo: The situation of the Rroma in Kosovo is totally glossed over by the German authorities. In reality among them, very high unemployment prevails, and attacks are not tracked: “Officially, there are no attacks on them. Who issues a complaint, must fear reprisals. They can hardly expect any help from the Albanian police. Under the Constitution, all these rights are guaranteed, as is the internationally agreed reintegration of returnees. But the funds for that are lacking. The Rroma themselves have no confidence in the authorities dominated by Albanians, they are almost hermetically spatially sealed off from the Albanians and a kind of fair game for criminals.” Mesovic’s statements show once again the discrepancies between official country analyses and the real experiences of migrants. Official assessments of stability and legal security stand in contrast with personal experiences that are difficult to objectify. The official view remains the decisive criterion for the assessment of migrants’ fates.

Onay (2013), a green politician from Lower Saxony, reports on a field trip to Serbia. Purpose of the trip was a meeting between German and Serbian Rroma as well as non-Rroma, which was initiated by the organisations novels Aglonipe and the International Youth Meeting of Roma and non-Roma. At the meeting, issues such as the lack of access of Rroma to schools, to health care, and to the labour market were discussed. On the subsequent trip to Stara Karaburma, Onay paints a bleak picture of excluded Rroma living in ghetto-like conditions: Poor hygiene, glaring poverty, few or no prospects for the future. Onya’s portrayal stands in stark contrast to official country assessments that classify the situation of Rroma in Serbia as stable and safe. This contrasts with the fate of individuals surveyed Rroma, which report massive violence against them.

Bachmair (2013) reports on a meeting of the German association “Against Forgetting, for democracy”. At the meeting, eyewitnesses and relatives reported about the suffering experienced by Rroma and criticised the lack of coming to terms about the persecution and exclusion of Rroma in Germany. In his contribution, Romani Rose criticised the continued employment of Nazis by the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany, a fact that prevented the recognition of Rroma as victims for a long time: “In the offices, the survivors met the same officials who had sent them years before to the concentration camps, and who refused them compensation and recognition as victims of Nazi persecution. Even police officers who had perecuted Gypsies, made unhindered careers made in the Federal Republic. Only when Gypsies got organised and a 1980 hunger strike on the grounds of the former concentration camp at Dachau drew attention to their situation, was their suffering recognized.” The researcher Wolfgang Benz on racism expressed concern that the lessons of the world War II have never been applied or only very poorly on Rroma.

In his short, article, Schuhmann (2013) asks for less political correctness in the name of minorities who commit a crime. Naming the origin – in the case of this article “Gypsy” – helps to identify grievances among the stakeholders and to ask critical question: “If the reader completes the sentence “cheating gypsies on the road” with “of course – who else ?”,  a true nightmare for journalists has become a reality. The police does not want that. Neither does the majority of readers who are quite capable of differentiating between minorities and criminals among those. […] To name their origins could pave the way for many other questions. Namely who exploit these women and what a life they are forced to lead.” Through this statement, Schuhmann relativises her own reasoning. If the committed crimes, or respectively the exploitative relationships have nothing to do with cultural background, why then is naming the origin relevant? Schuhmann also assumes from fully mature, critical readers, who can recognise stereotypical reductions as such. This is to be doubted. Many readers will be confirmed in their prejudices by one-sided reporting.

Also, in an article about criminals young Gypsy women, Schuhmann (2013/II) uses the stereotypes of organised Rroma groups: The testimony of a police officer who speaks of burglars networks, is quoted without comment. Also without comment is the fact that one assigns physical characteristics to perpetrators: “The official explained what they should pay attention to. Women, beggars, rather dark in type “Gypsy one cannot say”, Fuchs says with a glance at the present journalist.” that there is no “culture of crime” ought to be clear to every man of common sense. Just as there are delinquent Rroma, there are delinquent ethnic German, Swiss, etc. No one would ever get the idea to talk about organised crime.

Unzensuriert.at (2013), in an absurdity not to be outdone, reports in an article about the Rroma the “problem house” in Duisburg. According to the article, these Rroma have collected the rat traps that were installed by the urban pest control and sold to scrap dealers. The Rroma, called “Gypsies” here, are brought in directly in conjunction with a rat infestation: “Rat plague: Gypsies stealing traps.” The article is a prime example of uncritical, unreflective, populist journalism.

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11.10.2013 Rroma in Germany

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Schmalzl (2013) reports on the deportation of a Rroma family back to Kosovo. Friends of the family were taken aback and expressed solidarity by lighting candles in the Youth Art School Mühlhausen, where the family had attended a painting course. The family was arrested in their house in the middle of the night by the authorities and brought to the airport. Once again, this case raises the question of the discrepancy between the real experiences of migrants in their home countries and the state views on minority protection and living possibilities. Schmalzl cites a young Rromni, who speaks of “violence, discrimination, and poverty” in Kosovo.

Bernhardt (2013) reports on a fire in an apartment building in Duisburg. Located on the Kirschstrasse in the Hochheide area of the city, this house is inhabited largely by immigrant Rroma. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire and evacuate 42 people who had fled to the roof of the house. According to the police, it is highly probable that this was arson. This raises legitimate concerns among residents and supporters of the victims. A few weeks ago, a parade of right-wing groups who protest against immigrant Rroma in Duisburg caused quite a stir. Connections between the arson and the far-right scene are therefore currently suspected. Various anti-fascist groups are calling for a better protection of the Rroma by the police.

Der Westen (2013) reports on a ruling of the Essen Higher Social Court. The court has ruled in a dispute between a Rroma family and the Jobcentre of Gelsenkirchen in favour of Rroma family. Between October 2010 and November 2011, the Jobcentre had not granted the father of the family any benefits since he could only stay in Germany in search for a job. This view is now contradicted the Essen Social Court: EU citizens without job who have stayed for a longer period in Germany are entitled to Hartz IV benefits. The Jobcentre will appeal the decision in front of the Federal Social Court. The decision is grist to the mill of those who warn of a mass immigration of poor migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, and who thus see the German welfare state as endangered. A journalist from der Westen thus stated in another article: “130,000 Romanians and Bulgarians are now entitled to Hartz IV: The decision of the highest North Rhine-Westphalia Social Court is significant because it now affects a significant group of people of about 130,000 claimants, said a spokesman of the court. Especially Romanians and Bulgarians living here and  desperately seeking work now have rights to claim Hartz IV benefits. The municipalities could see now numerous new applications and thus new increased costs” ( 2013/II der Westen).

Blazejewski (2013) points to the fact that there are large discrepancies among politicians in terms of ideas about immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria. While many German local politicians, such as Reinhold Spaniel, assume an influx of low-skilled migrants, EU Social Affairs Commissioner László Andor sees in the immigrants young labour force for the growing German economy who pose no problem for the German social welfare system. 

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11.10.2013 Muslim Rroma in Bulgaria

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Conrad (2013) reports on Muslim Rroma in Bulgaria, a few of which always travel to Germany is search for work. During the socialist period, the Muslim faith was strongly suppressed. After the changes, there has been a resurgence of Islam, but strong reservations remained among the population. Again and again, Muslim Rroma are confronted with the accusation of extremism. The Islam of Rroma is a syncretism between official Islam and their own customs. Due to religion, the interviewed Imam note, drug use and child marriages have decreased.

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11.10.2013 Too much political correctness or a trivialisation of poverty and exclusion?

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Woker (2013) criticises the excessive political correctness in the use of terminology for example when referring to the Rroma minority, a terminology which complicates a transparent view of the current debate. With the name “Roma and Sinti” in Germany, the Sinti are presented as a separate group from the Rroma, although they are part of the Rroma as a whole. By this institutionalised political correctness – according to Woker – one makes it more difficult to detect and respond to problems with the minority: “There is a tendency , somewhat premature to suspect a deep-rooted antiziganism. Instead to recognise the real existing problems as such and to recognize and respond to these with social policy measures, authorities and the media often escape into a politically correct vocabulary to prove at least their good will.”

Woker fails to recognise that this recognition is precisely the very real problem. Are the so-called poverty migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, which are negatively represented in the German media and are usually identified as Rroma, poor and uneducated because they are Rroma? Woker comes close to this conclusion. At the end of his article, Woker cites Mappes-Niedieks’ book “Poor Roma , bad Gypsies”, a book which makes a clear separation between cultural characteristics of Rroma, who are anyhow very heterogeneous,  and their ascribed identity from intentional non-integration, nomadism, illiteracy, or culturally related delinquency. Therefore, the crucial question is not really the one of political correctness, but the one on how the conditions that lead to poverty, lack of education, and exclusion are brought into relationship with an ethnic origin. In Germany there are many well-integrated Rroma who do not want to recognise themselves as Rroma just because of the one-sided focus on problem cases. In this case, to trivialise political correctness just means to play down stigma. One thus must ask the question whether it is not highly problematic to ascribe a cultural identity to people, an identity which is the result of the exclusion of the majority society. Political views on culture need to be recognised as being politicised and need to be critically questioned.

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11.10.2013 Rroma in France

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The anti-racism association Mrap has announced it will file a lawsuit against Manuel Valls for incitation to racial hatred. Valls had stated that, in his opinion, most Rroma do not want to integrate, and should return to Romania and Bulgaria. Particularly problematic about Valls’ utterances is that he enjoys broad support among the French population and thereby racist views about Rroma are being represented as indisputable facts. Valls face a fine of up to € 45,000 (2013 Süddeutsche Zeitung, Le Monde, 2013).

Strassenburg (2013) takes a critical look at the trial of 27 Croatian Rroma in France. The defendants are accused of organized theft and trafficking: They are reported to have exploited children to earn money for themselves. They “trained them only to steal from the youngest age.” This contrasts with views of critics who hold that the imputed organised structures are a projection of the prosecution: “Mali, [a journalist] could never observe in three years the organized criminal structures, which are reproached to the 27 defendants in Nancy.” This process it is not just about the crimes of the accused, but also about socio-political conceptions of organised crime among the Rroma. “Gypsy Kings” and organised, structured delinquency is primarily a police view of the Rroma, and has been discussed several times. This does not mean that no crimes were committed by Rroma, but that it is very questionable to ascribe Rroma a culturally determined predisposition to organised crime (see L’Express 2013).

Zarachowicz (2013) speaks to the sociologist Jean-Pierre Liégeois about how are being exploited for French politics. Liégeois sees the knowledge about the Rroma as being dominated by large gaps. This ignorance is instrumentalised by politicians to project their own views on it. He deconstructs the travelling lifestyle, which again and again is attributed to them, as being the result of social exclusion, rather than a self-chosen way of life, and therefore as false: “Les familles sont souvent mobiles par obligation, pour s’adapter à des conditions d’existence changeantes, parfois menaçantes. Au cours de l’histoire, on assiste à des déportations, par exemple du Portugal vers l’Afrique et le Brésil, de l’Angleterre vers les colonies d’Amérique et vers l’Australie. Ou, quand des conflits se produisent, les Roms, souvent pris comme boucs émissaires ou bloqués entre les belligérants, doivent partir. […] Les Roms ont ainsi dû intégrer la mobilité dans leur existence, pour s’adapter à un rejet qui reste dominant.” [Families are often mobile due to the obligation to adapt to sometimes threatening changing conditions of life. In history, one sees deportations, for example from Portugal to Africa and Brazil, from England to the American colonies and to Australia. Or, when conflicts occur, Roma, often used as scapegoats or stuck between belligerents, have to  leave. […] The Roma have had to integrate mobility into their lives, to adapt to a rejection that remains dominant.]  He also identifies a historical, European government policy, that either wants to deport or to forcefully assimilate Rroma. In the case of France, the policy of repatriation is currently the dominant paradigm. From a financial point of view, this policy actually costs more than a successful integration.

In his article, Potet (2013) points to an alternative to Valls repressive policy. In Indre, the socialist mayor has built an accommodation, which aims to help immigrant Rroma to integration. The Rroma children can go to the local school. The immigrants had previously been living in a derelict factory. This support is linked to reciprocity: the children must attend school regularly, adults need to search for work, caravans are regularly maintained. With these Rroma-friendly policies, Jean-Luc Le Drenn puts re-election on the line.

The Huffington Post (2013) takes a look across the border from France: There one has problems other than the Rroma. High unemployment rates are at the centre of public attention. Before the economic crisis, the Spanish state set money aside for the integration of resident and migrant Rroma, money meant to facilitate access to education, the labour market, and to health care. This state integration program is still regarded as a European model of a social Rroma policy. This does not mean that exclusion and racism against the Rroma no longer exist in Spain, but this was an important first step towards a successful integration of Rroma.

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04.10.2013 Rroma Debate in Germany

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Reich (2013) discusses the problems and hardships of migrants in their new home using the fate of a Rroma family from Romania who emigrated to Berlin Rroma. The author estimates the number of Romanian and Bulgarian Rroma in Berlin, although she de facto talks only about Romanians and Bulgarians, to around 22,000, and not a few are living in their cars. Many families are also suspected to live in basements and attics, a larger part camps in parks. The action plan adopted by the Berlin administration to integrate foreign Rroma, is meant to improve their access to the labour market, education, health care and housing options. However, discrimination by teachers, passers-by, and the society as a whole in everyday life remains normality. Statistics paint the bleak picture of 40 % of the population who would have a problem with Rroma as neighbours.

Yordanova (2013) looks for reasons for the lagging results in terms of the integration of Rroma in the European education system. Joachim Brenner of the association the Förderverein Roma in Frankfurt am Main, that poverty among a large part of European Rroma reduces education to an afterthought, something that comes after accommodation, food, and health. At a two-day conference on the educational situation of European Rroma in Bonn, experts discussed the problems in the implementation of a better integration of this ethnic group. The Bulgarian Ilona Tomova sees a reason to the serious reservations of broad sections of the population against the Rroma. The EU funding is perceived as an unfair advantage for the Rroma: “The integration programs are very difficult to accept in Bulgarian society, because many other people – not just Roma – have no access to the labour market. Especially young and older people find difficult to get a job.” A representative of the Roma Education Fund criticized the focus of many NGOs, and schools to only solve short-term problems.

Ulrich (2013) discussed the ongoing tensions between the German Federal States and the Federal Government with regards to the integration of immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria. The federal States of Berlin demand massively more support, which is not granted by the Federal Government. The problem lies in a market-based screening of immigrants: “Since the EU accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, the influx of job seekers from both countries has greatly increased. Whereas well skilled have access to the labour market, unskilled immigrants in this country fall through the grid of the welfare state. As EU citizens, they will not get assistance, such as the one granted to asylum seekers, they can work, except as a self-employed. The only benefit that they can get are child benefits.” Try to remedy this, individual Federal States such as Berlin started they own development programs. In Berlin, welcoming classes for children without knowledge of German were established. The costs for the children care, for example also in catching up on vaccinations, exceed the budget of the state by far. In addition, the concentration of many immigrants create social tensions in a place that one simply can not ignore.

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