Category Archives: News Western Europe

Poverty Migrants

Published by:

Poverty Migrants

A study on poverty driven migration examines the topic of poverty migration from a sociological perspective in order to understand the situation of those affected from a scientific perspective. ITts focus is on the everyday lives of those in need and how they deal with potential stigmatization. Using key question-based interviews with Slovak and Romanian citizens, the living conditions of those in need were examined. The results show that those in need lack vital basic necessities in their countries of origin, which is why commuter migration to Western Europe is the only option.

Romanistan

Published by:

Romanistan

In “Romanistan,” three young artists explore what it means to be Roma. At the same time, it’s a plea to view history not simply as a past, but as a living and present story, residing in the bodies of the new generation searching for a right to exist and recognition without having to hide or deny their identity.

The play will be presented in De Lindenberg in Nijmegen on Sunday, October 19.

French Chronicle …

Published by:

French Chronicle …

Almost nothing about Roma in France this past week. An article about Roma families who were evicted twice within 6 months, and a fire in a camp near Nantes, in Westen France.

Jubilee in Rome

Published by:

Jubilee in Rome

The Jubilee of Roma, Sinti, will be celebrated on Saturday, October 18th with a major event scheduled in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican. 3’5000 people are expected.

On Saturday, October 18, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., a meeting with Pope Leo XIV will be held. According to the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, the meeting will “profess the profound faith of the Roma, and Sinti, but it will also be an opportunity to celebrate a people, their living culture, and to honour their memory.”

Dolores Dori

Published by:

Dolores Dori

Dolores Dori, a 44 year old Sintica/Romni who was killed in a feud in Lonato del Garda, Brescia is the subject of numerous articles in the Italian press. He mother and her son were apparently arrested. At the core of the story is the daughter who eloped with a boy from the Roma camp in which Dolores was killed.

Italy: Feud

Published by:

Italy: Feud

A feud between Roma resulted in the killing of a 44 year old woman. According to the latest reports, she arrived to collect her daughter, who had moved to the camp against her parents’ wishes. The woman is said to have been having an affair with a boy from the camp, but, according to Brescia Today, she has already been promised in marriage to another man.

She was later shot and wounded and died in a hospital where she was found at the entrance of the emergency room.

Bad.

Greece, Police, and Roma

Published by:

Greece, Police, and Roma

With 24-hour patrols by the Greek Police in Roma camps and the announcement of the recruitment of 50 gypsy police officers, the Ministry of Citizen Protection is attempting to present a new policing and mediation plan. It started all with a claim that effectively, Roma are basically criminals.

Roma in Greece are protesting against those measures and say that those measures will not build trust.

The Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis clarified that “the police will hire approximately 50 uniformed police officers, unarmed, with special duties, who will be close to the Police Departments of the areas where these vulnerable groups live and will play the role of social mediator, this will be their mission.”\

So basically not really police, and not a role that can be sustained.

French Chronicle …

Published by:

French Chronicle …

Not much in France this week … A fire in a Roma camp near Nantes, in Western France; one site also in Wenstern France needs rehabilitation, as it has been too degraded; and one camp being dismantled near Paris. 

Amico Rom

Published by:

Amico Rom

The 32nd edition of Amico Rom, an event combining a competition, awards, music, cultural events, and celebrations, will get underway on October 3, 2025. Following the well-attended and moving celebration in memory of the deported Roma and Sinti children held on September 30, this Friday there will be three events in Lanciano: at 10:30 a.m., in the Parco delle Memorie, the solemn ceremony for the Samudaripen (Roma and Sinti genocide) will be held, with the laying of a laurel wreath and speeches by the authorities; At 4:00 pm, the Casa di Conversazione will screen the documentary “A Roma’s Dream,” starring Croatian MP Veljko Kajtazi.

Catalogna: Exhibition

Published by:

Catalogna: Exhibition

Mercedes Porras, a Romani activist and curator of the exhibition The Roma people in Catalonia: history and culture, which can be seen at the Museum of the History of Catalonia until August 2, 2026 is part of the commemoration of the 275th anniversary of the Great Raid of 1749 and the 600th anniversary of the arrival of the Roma people to the peninsula.

Final Rest

Published by:

Final Rest

Three Roma remains collected for racist research purposes around 150 years ago have been interred at Leipzig’s Südfriedhof Cemetery. “In the best case scenario, we can succeed in alleviating some of the suffering that was committed long ago in the here and now,” said Prof. Martin Gericke, who heads provenance research at the Institute of Anatomy in Leipzig.

Ake Dikhea

Published by:

Ake Dikhea

The film festival “Ake Dikhea” is starting. Two films currently highlighted are “Reaching for the rope”, and “The earth beneath Margaret’s feet”.

Georges Soros and Roma

Published by:

Georges Soros and Roma

The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma is awarding this year’s European Civil Rights Prize to George Soros (95). The US founder, investor, and philanthropist is being honored for his decades-long international commitment to Sinti and Roma, the association announced in Heidelberg on Tuesday. The award is also intended to draw attention to the dangers of growing antigypsyism, which is once again manifesting itself in Germany and many European countries through violence against the minority by nationalists and right-wing extremists.

Early Weddings, Virginity, and Stereotypes

Published by:

Early Weddings, Virginity, and Stereotypes

A scandal currently seems to be on the front pages of several Austrian newspapers. The case of a wedding of 12 years old who, according to the press was no longer a virgin.

As usual, this is being described as common practice among all Roma. This is not the case, and concerns mostly a minority of all Roma communities.

Germany, AfD, and Roma

Published by:

Germany, AfD, and Roma

In Gelsenkirchen, the SPD governed with an absolute majority for a long time. Now the shock is deep: In the local elections, the AfD fell just 0.5 percent short of victory. FOCUS-online reporter Ulf Lüdeke asked the local authorities why this was the case shortly before the mayoral runoff.

One of the statements of this article is that:

“The population has shrunk to around 270,000, 75,000 of whom do not have German passports. 11,000 are Roma and Sinti from Bulgaria and Romania. Thanks to EU labour freedom, criminal clans lure them legally to the Ruhr region, herd them into abandoned, dilapidated properties, and rip them off on social security contributions.”

Besides the fact that there are no Sinti in Bulgaria or Romania, this statement is utterly inacceptable.

French Chronicle …

Published by:

French Chronicle …

Not much this week in France about Roma. Not surprising as there was many other more important news, like Sarkozy condemned to prison. In the South of France in Montpellier, a worrisome development, shots were fired at a Roma camp.

The Catholic Church and Roma

Published by:

The Catholic Church and Roma

A Roma delegation from the Czech Republic led by Karel Karika, Chairman of the Czechoslovak Roma Union, today attended a general audience with Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square. Representatives of the Roma community delivered an exceptional message to the Holy Father: They requested the symbolic lifting of the excommunication of Roma from the Catholic Church, which was declared in 1427 and not abrogated to this day!

Pope Leo XIV also signed a Romanes translation of the Bible during a personal meeting with a Roma delegation from the Czech Republic.

Germany, Politics, and TV

Published by:

Germany, Politics, and TV

Paul Ziemiak (40), member of the CDU Federal Executive Board and Secretary General of the NRW CDU, during a TV Talk Show hosted by Maybrit Illner addressed the criticism of many voters regarding the “massive” immigration of Sinti and Roma from Romania and Bulgaria in the debate on social abuse.

Apart from the fact that there are no Sinti in either Bulgaria and Romania, highlighting the ignorance of both the politician and the journalist, this immigration is not massive, and is not the main problem faced by social care in most western countries: Single mothers, elederly are often poor and consume a very large part of the money. But this doesn’t win votes …

rroma.org
en_GBEN