{"id":1150,"date":"2014-10-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/10-10-2014-european-economic-and-social-committee-eesc-wants-to-foster-the-civil-society-integration-of-the-rroma\/"},"modified":"2022-07-27T10:15:41","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T09:15:41","slug":"10-10-2014-european-economic-and-social-committee-eesc-wants-to-foster-the-civil-society-integration-of-the-rroma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/10-10-2014-european-economic-and-social-committee-eesc-wants-to-foster-the-civil-society-integration-of-the-rroma\/","title":{"rendered":"10.10.2014 European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) wants to foster the civil society integration of the Rroma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EurActic (2014) reports \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton the plan of the European Economic and Social Committee to better foster the civil \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsociety integration of Rroma. It recommends that the governments and aid organisations \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the European member states should provide more social housing for marginalised \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfamilies and should improve the cooperation with the minority representatives. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe evaluation of the integration efforts of the different countries varies \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsiderably. While the committee gives very good grades to for example Finland, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe assessment of the Romanian Rroma-policy is very mediocre. Valeria Atzori, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe EESC Representative for Rroma issues, states: \u201c\u201cRoma are not travellers by choice. They are obliged to leave because \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey are thrown out of their settlements,\u201d<\/em> she said. \u201cWhen they have houses, they stay.\u201d This is one of the first EESC \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconclusions following visits to countries with Roma minorities over the last \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfew months. EESC experts met with the Roma community, NGOs and national \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tauthorities in Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, and Spain. Through these meetings, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe EESC aims at exploring civil society initiatives in the Roma integration \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprocess, and provide recommendations to EU institutions in November. According \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto Atzori, the situations vary considerably between countries. [\u2026] In Romania, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe government still lacks political will to help the Roma, despite the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcreation of a National Agency for Roma Integration. NGOs and the Roma were \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdefensive in their meetings with the EESC, and blamed both the government and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe EU for not doing enough. Romania is also confronting deeply rooted \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstereotypes about Roma. Atzori said that due to a few Roma that are exploiting \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe system, a lot of Romanians believe that the minority deserves the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdeplorable situation they are in now.\u201d<\/em> What is not mentioned in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tanalysis is that the different EU-countries are dealing with very different conditions. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe economic situation and political stability in the states are not equal, and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdifficult economic situations facilitate mechanisms of social exclusion. On the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tother hand, the will of political and civil society to integrate the minority is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twithout doubt a critical factor to a better integration of the Rroma. In Mid-October, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe European Economic and Social Committee will be rewarding eight organisations \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat have been particularly committed to a better social integration of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma. <\/p>\n