{"id":1766,"date":"2013-04-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/26-04-2013-the-rroma-the-eu-and-the-freedom-of-movement\/"},"modified":"2022-08-05T09:26:26","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T08:26:26","slug":"26-04-2013-the-rroma-the-eu-and-the-freedom-of-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/26-04-2013-the-rroma-the-eu-and-the-freedom-of-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"26.04.2013 The Rroma, the EU and the Freedom of Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pl\u00fcss (2013) reports on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe plans of several EU member states – and also of Switzerland \u2013 to restrict \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe movement of persons in Europe. This freedom of movement allowed people, so \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfar without a work permit, to settle in another state and to pursue an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toccupation and to a certain extent receive social benefits. The EU criticized \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe plans of Germany, Austria, the UK and the Netherlands, who want to clamp \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdown on so-called poverty immigrants from Eastern Europe. From the perspective \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the relevant EU Commission, mass immigration is a politicised perception of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe concerned countries, but not a statistical reality in itself. The EU also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thas been working for several years on its own strategy to prevent the feared \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWestwards migration from Eastern Europe. It strives to better integrate ethnic \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgroups such as Rroma in their home countries. However, many involved parties \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tquestion the success of these ventures.<\/p>\n

Kopeinig \/ Kramar (2013) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treport on a heated atmosphere on this debate in Berlin and Vienna. The interior \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tministers of Germany, Austria, the UK and the Netherlands complain about the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabuse of the welfare by poor immigrants, who are frequently Rroma. The ministers \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof Germany and Austria, Hans-Peter Friedrich and Johanna Mikl-Leitner are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcurrently in the middle of an election campaign and thus request in this regard \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta clear distinction between the treatment of nationals and immigrants. Even the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconservative press in the UK warns against a mass immigration of Rroma from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEastern Europe, an immigration whose factuality is but hard to establish. In \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taddition, the one-dimensional abuse of social welfare that is talked about is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto be questioned. The contexts behind such migration as well as the sources and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfacts of the migration numbers are too little discussed.<\/p>\n

In the still ongoing \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdebate in Germany about the feared mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe first concrete actions are being taken. Berlin’s integration commissioner Monika \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tL\u00fcke confirmed the plans of the capital to provide emergency shelter for up to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t100 homeless immigrants. The city government wants to forestall the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texploitation of immigrants by landlords, respectively prevent them from their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tquestionable practices of high rents, low quality abodes. Integration Senator \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDikel Kolat also adopted a so-called \u201cAction Plan Roma\u201d. There are already 160 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twelcoming classes for Rroma children to prepare their integration into German \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tschools with a strong focus on German language courses. The planned shelters \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare part of the action plan. Resistance against this project is increasing. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCity Council Carsten Engelmann for social affairs commented negatively against \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe plans, fearing that current local tenants and landlords would be negatively \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timpacted or even forced to leave (Thomsen 2013).<\/p>\n

Loy (2013) added further \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto the subject by pointing out that Kolat plans transition home for foreign \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnewcomers whose financing it still pending. He also states that many Rroma have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thad bad experiences with government bodies and administration and thus have reservations \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin engaging with authorities. The Senator responsible for integration earnestly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thopes on the successful integration of Rroma children through professional \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttraining programs. She also denies the controversy surrounding the welfare \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabuse. 80% of Romanians and Bulgarians in Berlin are employed and thus entitled \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto receive social security benefits.<\/p>\n

Siebert (2013) presents \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tan interview with Benjamin Marx, a representative of the organisation \u201cAachen Siedlungs- und \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWohnungsgesellschaft\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twhich works on the integration of immigrant Rroma. In the Berlin district of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNeuk\u00f6lln, there are 600 Rroma families, most from F\u00e2nt\u00e2nele in Romania. Marx \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttravelled to F\u00e2nt\u00e2nele to get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe life there. Life there offers \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfew prospects and poor educational opportunities, which is why the migration to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGermany is associated with hopes for a better future. Marx seems itself also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnot entirely free from prejudices. He is quoted with a statement bordering on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdefamation: \u201cIt is hard to imagine a situation in which families of Gypsies \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twould be able to live in a good neighbourhood with someone else. Among them, own \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgroupings emerge, they \u2018arrange things\u2019, \u2018promise stay in Germany\u2019, for which \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey ask for money.\u201d Such statements are an unnecessary generalisation and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tone-dimensional representation of members of an ethnic group that can only be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdescribed as stupid. Especially the statement that Rroma are not be able to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlive together with other people can only be described as racist. Marx also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tquestions the sense of the inclusion of Romania and Bulgaria in the EU. This \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twas a terrible mistake, because the countries were not yet ready for it. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSiebert leaves this statement without comments and therefore adds to the overall \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstrangeness of this article, which can only be described as one-sided.<\/p>\n

The Cologne City Gazette \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) reports on defamatory statements of Cardinal Joachim Meisner against \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma from Slovenia. He is referring to Rroma as not able to inegrate, and to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma families as having many children. The Cologne social critic G\u00fcnther \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWallraff sharply criticises these statements in the article. Meisner\u2019s remarks \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treminds \u201cof the propaganda from other times aimed directly at the forced \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsterilisation of women of so-called anti-social child-rich families.\u201d In this \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWallraff refers of course to the systematic destruction of Rroma under the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNazis, where they were branded as anti-social.<\/p>\n

Christine Langenfeld, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchairman of the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMigration, is committed to the successful integration of immigrant Rroma. There \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis a need for a successful mediator between immigrants, political authorities \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand local communities. She also engages herself to prevent the formation of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlawless areas within economy, something that affects Rroma in particular. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma have a right to protection by the law, since the EU is not only a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdomestic market but also a community of values \u200b\u200bis (German Turkish News 2013).<\/p>\n

Lehner (2013) reports on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta podium discussion in Salzburg, where the correspondent and author \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMappes-Niediek and the writer Karl-Markus Gauss debated on the impoverishment \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof Eastern Europe. Mappes-Niediek criticised the economic policies of Western \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEuropean and international business leaders who have contributed with their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmassive measures to impoverishment of broad sections of the population in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSoutheast Europe. The EU needs to primarily promote local economies and not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twaste too much energy on poorly engineered social policies. The writer Gauss severely \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcriticised the European banking sector, which consumed lots of tax money, thus \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpreventing these funds from being used to boost the labour market. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMappes-Niediek also pointed to a little-known fact. Until the mid 19th \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcentury, Rroma in Romania were treated as slaves: \u201cRoma were completely \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsubjugated for many centuries, not even owning their own bodies. Families were \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttorn apart, their members are sold separately. This influences the current \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsituation, as they never possessed land, land that they could have passed by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinheritance.\u201d He also points to the deterioration of the situation since the fall \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the Eastern Bloc. Previously many Rroma were working, albeit poorly paid. After \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe fall of the Iron Curtain, the employment crisis means that unemployment increased \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmassively. This impoverishment for many Rroma meant a return and a reliance on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttraditional economic and life forms, which often are no longer appropriate.<\/p>\n

In Freiburg, 500 people \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdemonstrated against the forced deportation of approximately 60 Rroma from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGermany. The demonstration was organized by the action group \u201cthe right to stay\u201d, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tagainst the deportation policy of the red-green government (Badische Zeitung \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2013).<\/p>\n

Bochtler (2013) reports \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton a Rroma family in Freiburg, which is affected by the deportation policy. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSacipis family has successfully integrated, all family members go for a job, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbut now finds itself faced with deportation. Local activists are fighting for a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmore sensitive approach with members of the minorities and demand that one considers \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe history of German Roma policy in this question. The outcome of the conflict \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tremains unclear for the time being.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n