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31.01.2014 Media attention on immigrant Rroma in illegal settlements continues

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Huguenin (2014) of France 3 reports on a recently evicted illegal settlement in Languedoc- Roussillon, near which Rroma have again resettled. The article reproduces – despite its emphatic perspective – a negative image of poor, uneducated Rroma, as the French right so often portrays.

In Val-de-Marne, a Rroma settlement with 1000 to 2000 inhabitants is being evicted. Residents were informed a week before the eviction about the upcoming action. The majority of the children are enrolled in Bonneuil. This clearance challenges the continued schooling of minors (Le Parisien 2014/I). The one-sided media focus on Rroma in slums increases the biased public impression that all Rroma live in such conditions. It is constantly neglected that there are many Rroma in France who lead an integrated and unobtrusive life.

The mayor of Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Luc Jousse, doesn’t have to fear any sanctions from his party, the UMP, which dropped all charges against the mayor. Jousse had stated in December 2013, that a fire in a Rroma settlement was reported too early to the authorities, which from his point of view was a pity. For this tasteless statement, Jousse had been suspended until further notice (Le Parisien 2014/II , Francetv info 2014 Nice Matin 2014/I, Nice Matin 2014/II).

Guévart (2014) from the Courrier Picard meanwhile mocks himself without shame about the fate of the Kosovar Rroma girl Leonarda and her family. He accuses the left-wing supporters of the family of blind humanitarianism and sees the rejection of the asylum application as a just conclusion to this matter: “The left has criticized the evictions as being managed like an industry in the era of Sarkozy-Guéant, being continued now in its his own camp [through Manuel Valls]. What now? Not applying the law to avoid controversy? Hold a press conference to reach out to a teenager who stands up to the president of the French state, and offer her … what to do? Home, studies, all expenses paid by whom?” Guévart is totally indifferent towards the situation Rroma face in Kosovo. He doesn’t care that they are confronted with the aftermath of the civil war and all its consequences.

Paupe (2014) meantime questions the effectiveness of the French migration policy regarding Rroma. Manuel Valls ordered 20,000 deportations of Rroma in 2013. The number of foreign Rroma in France meanwhile stays around 17,000 people. The numbers are misleading because the same people were often deported multiple times, the author states. The organization Romeurope criticizes the usefulness of a rigorous deportation policy. What is really wanted is constructive solutions, improving the conditions of all actors involved. To only remind continuously of the necessity to cut down public spending isn’t solving anything, Umberto Guerra from Romeurope criticized. The evictions indeed exacerbate the long-term improvement of the life situation of those affected. They complicate a regulated access to health, education, and labour institutions.

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24.01.2014 Discrimination of Rroma in Europe continues

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The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (2014) published is “World Report 2014” on the discrimination of the Rroma in the European Union. The report notes that the Rroma are still victims of massive exclusion. They are the main victims of the significant increase in right-wing policies and politicians, together with immigrants and homosexuals. For Germany, this means that Rroma migrants are being confronted with strong prejudices and that the deportation practices do not verify the conditions and discrimination in countries of origin like the Kosovo. France has set a new record in evictions during 2013: around 13,000 Rroma were evicted from their informal settlements during the period of January to September. In Greece, Human Rights Watch critiques the continuing segregation of Rroma in public schools. Additionally, the Rroma are being illegally persecuted and monitored by the authorities. For Croatia, the organisation criticised the exclusion of Rroma from public institutions such as schools, hospitals and social institutions. In Romania, the Rroma are still victims of numerous evictions and are generally disadvantaged in public life. A particularly bad assessment befalls Hungary, when it comes to the integration of Rroma. The report notes: “Roma were faced also last year with discrimination and harassment. The mayor of the city Ozd in northern Hungary separated Roma settlements with an estimated 500 families from the public water network. In January, the European Court of Human Rights judged Hungary guilty of discriminating two Rroma students, because the authorities had placed them in special schools. In July, the court upheld the decision of a prohibition on the Hungarian Guard, an extremist group agitating against Jews and Rroma. In August, a Budapest court convicted four men for murder, who had been involved in racist attacks in the years 2008 and 2009, in which six Roma had been killed, including a child.” As long as the economic conditions in Europe remain poor, the Rroma face an unfavourable fate. They are the first to suffer from social ills. It is much to be hoped that the bad tradition of centuries-old discrimination against the minority will soon be consigned to history.

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24.01.2014 Rroma and the economic crisis

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Lee (2014) discusses the handling of Rroma in Europe in the context of the economic crisis that plunged the world into recession in 2008. He criticizes the fact that many conservative politicians and citizens in Europe are abusing Rroma as scapegoats. Many people have learned nothing from the events of the past but continue to defame Rroma with impunity. They create an image of work-shy, children-rich Rroma families that put a burden on society and are criminals: „The Roma didn’t have anything to do with the banking crisis, but they’re being blamed for Europe’s new poverty now. […] From London to Bratislava you hear the public and politicians saying they don’t want the Roma because they’re a burden on society, on public spending; that they don’t want to work, they just have more and more kids and then don’t even send them to school; that they’re lazy thieves. This is what the Fascists said about them, too. But nowadays, apparently it’s OK for the mainstream to say these things as well.“ In the accompanying video post Lee (2014/II) speaks with Slovak passersby: they reproduce the stereotypes of lazy, thieving, asocial Rroma. They totally ignore that it is the massive exclusion, which hinders the Rroma to successfully integrate. The article also shows how expressions of suspicion make street beggars automatically to Rroma, although there are also many beggars who are ethnic Slovaks.

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24.01.2014 Rroma and education policy in Great Britain

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Le Bas (2014) takes a critical look at the education policies in Great Britain and the integration of Rroma into public educational institutions. He notes that the Rroma are strongly under-represented in public schools: „The mental age of an average adult Gypsy is thought to be about that of a child of 10, said the 1959 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14 years after the end of the Nazi genocide of Romany Gypsies. This week new analysis of the 2011 census has been released by the Office for National Statistics. It revealed that of the 58,000 people who identified themselves as being of Gypsy/Traveller ethnicity, 60% had no formal qualifications whatsoever.” However, the equation of Rroma and travellers as an ethnic group is wrong. Most English travellers can be traced back to Irish travellers who have their own origins. Le Bas continues on the question of what factors lead to low school enrolment rates among Rroma. In addition to obvious factors such as discrimination, he also deals with sensitive cultural explanations, but he immediately qualifies these to the benefit of individual experiences: As among other ethnic groups, there are some Rroma families who value education more than others. The crucial question remains how to integrate the Rroma successfully into society as a whole.

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24.01.2014 Refutation of the prejudices against Rroma

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The Rroma organization “Romeurope” republished its booklet “Les Roms: luttons contre les idées recues”. The organization argues against the most stubborn prejudices that are spread about the Rroma immigrants from Eastern Europe: 1. They have no right to stay in France. This statement is incorrect because most European countries now are members of the Schengen area and Rroma are entitled as citizen of these countries to make use of the free migration policy. 2. The Rroma love to live in slums. Wrong, poor Rroma live in informal settlements in the suburbs because of lack of alternatives. This has nothing to do with their identity. 3. The Rroma are nomads. Also wrong. The Rroma are forced by evictions to change their location. The majority of the Rroma are sedentary. 4. They only want to live amongst their own clan. Wrong, the Roma live in family groups to be able to help each other and to master their often precarious living conditions. 5. Rroma do not want to work. Wrong, the Rroma are working as hard as other people. However, their access to the labour market is still very restricted. Institutional racism against the Rroma is still prevalent in many European countries. 6. Rroma prefer to beg. Also wrong. Due to the precarious economic situation of many immigrant Rroma and lack of alternatives many are forced to beg. 7. Rroma do not want to send their children to school. Wrong, often complicated regulations do prevent the enrolment of young Rroma. The regular evictions hinder an undisturbed schooling. 8. The Rroma are carriers of disease and bring diseases to France. Wrong, the precarious hygienic conditions in the informal camps and poor access to health care make immigrant Rroma susceptible to disease. 9. The Rroma are social parasites and exploit the French welfare state. Also wrong, most foreign Rroma have very poor access to public institutions (Romeurope 2014).

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24.01.2014 Education against racism in Hungary

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Weil (2014) reports on the work of the young Rrom Joci Márton, volunteer of the foundation for informal education of Roma (UCCU, Roma Informális Oktatási Alapítvány). Márton attempts to sensitize adolescents on prejudices and challenge thought patterns by discussions in Hungarian schools. He has had to deal with insults during the short teaching sessions without taking it personally. A study on eurocentrism in Central Europe shows the link between lack of education and the responsiveness to racist concepts: “An existing relationship between the predisposition for discrimination and poverty is reported by György Csepeli, Antal Örkény, and Mária Székelyi in their 2000 study on ethnocentrism in Central Europe. It found that both those who live under socially and educationally poor conditions are more susceptible to discriminate others and that poor people are more often victims of discrimination. Times of crisis bring forth scapegoats and those who point their fingers at them.” Meanwhile, Márton pins his hopes on the integrating, bridge-building impact of education. The still existing segregated schools must finally be abolished and access of the Rroma to educational institutions steadily improved (see Budapester Zeitung 2014).

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17.01.2014 Rroma in Kosovo

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Based on selected informants, Woker (2014) presents an unbiased, nuanced view of the fate of Rroma in Kosovo. He portrays various projects in Pristina and the suburbs that were co-sponsored by returning or remaining Rroma. In the Serbian municipality of Gracanica they run a hotel, which was co-sponsored by a Swiss official. Nrecaj, a Rrom, wanted to set up small libraries in all public schools to improve children’s education skills. However, the Kosovo authorities showed no interest in his project. Andreas Worms, an official who assessed the return of Kosovo exiles in late 1999 on behalf of the Swiss Federal Government and some aid agencies, confirms the difficulties of reintegration. Not infrequently, the houses of the Rroma were destroyed in Serbian minority areas:  “Wormser had to assess the reasonableness of a return in the event of asylum applications. The current situation of the minority was often delicate: their homes in Serbian villages were destroyed and in the Albanian settlement area they were seen as collaborators with the Serbs and had to fear for their lives.” Woker’s conclusion is that the situation for the Rroma in Kosovo is still unsatisfactory. The conflicts from spring 2004 encouraged many in the decision to seek their luck abroad. From originally around 200’000 Rroma today about 50’000 remain in the Kosovo. Despite efforts by organizations such as  “Voice of Roma”, who work for better educational qualifications among the Rroma, there remain strong tensions between the two other ethnic groups in the country: the Kosovar Albanians who make up the majority of the population and the Kosovo Serbs, who constitute the second largest group. Whether the Rroma hotel will become a model project or not, will have to be seen.

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17.01.2014 Roma in Levenshulme, Great Britain

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Thomas (2014) discusses in the context of the new migration policies with Romania and Bulgaria the situation in the small town of Levenshulme, a suburb of Manchester. Contrary to the dire predictions Thomas draws a positive picture: the local authorities have adjusted to the immigration and support migrants in their integration efforts. Public schools have increased courses for English as a foreign language and the social institutions work closely with the local authorities. Nevertheless there are tensions because not all residents react to the rapid social change of the last years in the same way. Thomas summarizes: „Now there are around 2,000 Romanians in Greater Manchester. A lot has changed, but the change has been managed and unlike in Sheffield where senior politicians warned of serious unrest, there has been no similar talk here. Professor Yaron Matras, who leads the Romani project at the University of Manchester, worked alongside the city council, Greater Manchester Police, social business the Big Life Company and education officials to put a Roma Strategy in place.“ Through this project the integration of the immigrants into the educational institutions and the labour market has significantly improved (compare Manchester City Council 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 Education crisis among Rroma in France?

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Kinne (2013) gives information on a creeping crisis in the Paris suburbs: According to his article, just 10 % of Rroma children living in a illegal or informal camp go to school. The majority of South Eastern Europe originating Rroma who live in a makeshift barracks and camps prefer this to the poverty and discrimination in their home countries. This perspective of events should give pause to the vehement opponents of Rroma. According to a French government report says the author, about a third of Rroma children who live in theses camps, are not enrolled in school: “Aaccording to a government report, in the entire country, only one third of Roma children living in illegal camps go to school. Even though all children aged six to 16 years who live in France are required to attend school. The rest falls through the net, never registers or fails because of the high barriers to enrolment. Families have, for example, to specify a fixed address. Impossible, if you live in an illegal camp.” Besides the problem of the missing address, there are official reservations about Rroma, as well as the danger of being evicted in the near future from one’s current place of residence. Then there is the fear of many parents that their children could be discriminated against in schools. Without a good education, it will not be easier for the next generation to break the vicious circle of poverty and exclusion. That should make us think. On the other hand, there are also quite well-integrated Rroma in France, which are completely ignored in the current debate. They should have a voice.

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29.11.2013 Baden- Württemberg: New State Treaty strengthens rights of the Sinti and Romany

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Grunau (2013) reports on the newly signed treaty between the German state of Baden- Württemberg and the local Land Association of German Sinti and Roma. The agreement recognizes that the Rroma have been a part of German society for the last 600 years and as an ethnic minority have the right to protect and promote their interests. With the signing of the Treaty, the State of Baden-Württemberg also acknowledges its historic responsibility in the genocide of the Rroma and must attempt to fight against antiziganism: “The State Treaty in Baden-Württemberg is intended to inform. The State agrees to enshrine the past and present of the Sinti and Roma in the curricula for schools and teaching so as, “to counter possible prejudices.” A research centre for the history and culture of the minority as well as of antiziganism will be created.” The chairman of the National Association of German Sinti and Roma, Daniel Strauss, is hoping for a pioneering role of the State of Baden-Württemberg in the fight against racism and social exclusion. It is greatly hoped that the concessions made in this contract do not only remain statements of intent.

The Stuttgarter Zeitung (2013) adds that around 12,000 Sinti and Roma live in Baden- Württemberg. They form one of the four recognized minorities besides the Frisians, Sorbs and the Danes. That Jews are not mentioned is somewhat astonishing. The representatives of the Rroma also complained that, contrary to Schleswig-Holstein, it did not come to a change in the state constitution, in which the protection of the Rroma is enshrined. The Schwabian newspaper (2013) adds that the Baden-Württemberg State Association will receive 500,000 euro from 2014 and that a Council for the affairs of the German Sinti and Roma has been created.

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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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01.11.2013 Rroma and Poverty

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Mappes-Niediek (2013) takes a look at the overall European situation of Rroma. According to a study by the Soros Foundation Discrimination of Rroma is not the main problem but their blatant poverty is: “Poverty is the main problem, not the discrimination, the researchers found: Of more than a thousand Roma respondents in the four countries, 76 percent in Italy and 66 percent in Spain  felt discriminated against. In Romania, however, there were 40 percent and 34 percent in Bulgaria. In Hungary, where right-wing gangs terrorise and hunt Roma, Roma hardly migrate to western EU countries.” So poverty is an equally important factor in the preventing attending school or to a doctor visit. That discrimination and poverty are not in fact directly related is doubtful. Mappes-Niediek counters the German hysteria about a mass immigration of Rroma from Romania and Bulgaria: Most Rroma remain in their country in spite of poverty.

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25.10.2013 Rroma Between France and Romania

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Delage / Tepeneag (2013) report on a residential project in the Romanian Tinca, a project supported by the municipality of Lyon with 300,000 euro. The aim of subsidised housing for local Rroma is to help them integrate into the labour market. Lyon follows the whishes of the French government to prevent the Rroma migration to France. However, accommodation does not solve the problem of high unemployment among Romanian Rroma, hence their lack of social integration which can only be successful be bridged with a commitment from both sides. Delage / Tepeneag summarize: “Ainsi, pour ce centre imaginé par des ONG françaises et roumaines, et qui accueillera bientôt les Roms les plus démunis de Tinca, Lyon a investi près de 300.000 euros. “Cela va permettre de leur assurer l’accès à des douches, à des lave-linges, pour qu’ils puissent se présenter décemment à d’éventuels entretiens d’embauche, ou à l’école pour les enfants”, explique à BFMTV Monica Suciu, de la Ruhuma Foundation” [Thus, for this centre imagined by French and Romanian NGOs, and which will soon welcome the poorest Rroma in Tinca, Lyon has invested about 300,000 euro. “This will allow them to access to showers to washing machines, so they can look decent for possible job interviews or at school for children”, Monica Suciu, of the Foundation Ruhuma told BFM TV.] France Info (2013) adds that there is a will to build a dignified existence on site among the Romanian Rroma. Often this is very difficult because of the access to the labour market is very restricted. The Romanian Rroma policies, according to the statements of Rroma in Tinca, are ineffective.

Delpla (2013) takes a critical look at the French Rroma policies. He criticises the dominant practice to return Rroma to their reported country of origin. On the one hand one ignores the massive discrimination in countries like Hungary or Romania – now also France – and on the other hand, the fact that they are a European transnational minority and therefore, have no particular homeland. What must be sought is a pan-European integration of Rroma and no back and forth between different  a minority status in nation-states: “La solution du gouvernement français est de renvoyer les Roms non nationaux dans leur pays d’origine, en expliquant que c’est à ces pays d’origine de s’en occuper – avec des fonds européens. C’est une mauvaise idée, car, dans ces pays d’origine, les Roms sont victimes de racisme manifeste […] Il faut traiter ce problème au niveau européen, à la fois parce que les Roms sont le peuple le plus transeuropéen et parce que les solutions nationales ne marchent pas.”[The solution of the French government to send non-French Rroma in their countries of origin, explaining that this is for their country to deal with – with European funds. This is a bad idea, because in the country, Rroma are victims of overt racism […] We must deal with this problem at European level, both because the Rroma are the most transnational people and because national solutions do not work.]  Delpla also argues for making the Rroma citizen of Europe only and not members of a specific state. This would strengthen the EU’s role in the enforcement of their rights massively according to Delpla.

Bouclay (2013) in his article for Valeurs Actuelles pokes fun at the efforts of the community Romeurope. The collective in his brochure simply blends out the prejudice against the Rroma on issues such as begging, theft and prostitution. According to Bouclay, the Rroma are receiving proportionally too much support: “En réalité, loin d’être une communauté soumise à la vindicte de Français xénophobes, les Roms sont soutenus par de puissants lobbys. Le collectif Romeurope compte une quarantaine d’associations financées par l’argent public. Sans viser à l’exhaustivité, un rapide florilège de leurs subventions suffit à donner le vertige.” [In fact, far from being a community subject to the condemnation of French xenophobia, Roma are backed by powerful lobbies. The Romeurope account forty associations funded by public money. Without aiming to be exhaustive, quick flurry through their subsidies is enough to make you dizzy.] He paints a very one-sided picture of support funds distributed to present the French Rroma policies in a good light. The actual points of discussion of the current debate remain virtually untouched.

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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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18.10.2013 Rroma Debate in France

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The ruthless expulsion of a fifteen year old Gypsy girl to Kosovo, a girl who lived with her family for five years in France, drew added attention to the migration policies of that country. The girl was picked up during a school trip by the police and taken directly to the airport. The uncompromising internal politics of the interior minister Valls has led to severe tensions within the Socialist party. Many exponents of the party have accused President Hollande to continue a policy similar to that of his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy and to tolerate Manual Valls as a “sarkozy like prefect”. Meanwhile in Paris, a demonstration with a few thousand participants demonstrated against the deportation of Leonarda Dibrani and French immigration policies (Lehnartz 2013). In an interview with Euro News (2013) Dibrani suggests that Kosovo is not her home now. Her whole life, her future, is in France. She does not understand the migration policy of the socialist government. In spite of the controversial policies, Manuel Valls remains the most popular minister  of the Socialist party according to surveys. The right-wing National Front has seen a massive increase of voters in recent months.

Despic – Popovic (2013) trace the historical context of the relationship of Kosovo and its Rroma, a theme of greater public interest in the background of the expulsion of Leonarda Dibrani. She notes that before the Kosovo War in 1999, about 100,000 Rroma lived there[1], today there are still around 30,000. Unemployment and exclusion are daily occurrences. Rroma are regularly accused of having collaborated with the Serbian regime, because several Rroma buried the victims of the Serbian army as gravediggers. With the recognition of Kosovo as an independent state in 2010, many exiled Kosovars, including many Rroma have been forced to return to Kosovo. The deportees, among them many children, often do not speak either the two official languages ​​of Kosovo (Serbian or Albanian), rendering inclusion in the school system more difficult. In addition, access to the labour market and to health care is far from assured for minorities. The UN High Commission for Refugees and Amnesty International, have called for a permanent international protection for Rroma.

Atlantico (2013) takes a critical look at the social integration of Rroma in Kosovo. Since independence in 2008, Kosovo has been criticised by human rights organizations for its violation of the rights of minorities. Discrimination, its resulting poverty, and internal displacement are widespread. Wanda Troszczynska of Human Rights Watch states: “Les pays européens renvoient les gens les plus vulnérables du Kosovo vers une situation de discrimination, d’exclusion, de pauvreté et de déplacement à l’intérieur de leur propre pays d’origine.” [European countries send most vulnerable people back to Kosovo towards a situation of discrimination, exclusion, poverty and travel within their own country.]

Le Carboulec (2013) adds that the deportation of Leonarda Dibrani and her family to the highlights whole question of dealing with asylum seekers in France. Is it appropriate to “surgically” to identify and remove people without papers? The Rroma are therefore once again the focal point of French politics with regard to the treatment of minorities, undocumented migrants and foreigners in general.

Akerman (2013) and thirty other people take the French society made a statement in writing in Mediapart about Manuel Valls’ statements about Rroma. The signatories state their great concern about the denigration of Rroma by the French Minister of the Interior and demand a more respectful handling of the members of this ethnic minority. She herself, as a lesbian, and also gay, bisexual, transsexual or transgender have always had to justify their identity of course wrongly so, in the course of their biography. The Socialist Party should not degenerate into a mere appendage of the UMP but must rely on its socialist values: “Les problèmes roms ont des noms parfaitement connus et nullement originaux : ils s’appellent droit au travail, droit au logement, précarité, stigmatisation, honte et pauvreté. Ce n’est pas nous qui sommes idéalistes, c’est ce gouvernement, son ministre de l’Intérieur, son Premier ministre, et celui qui les a nommés, qui sont racistes.” [Roma problems are well known and not original: they are called right to work, right to housing, insecurity, stigma, shame and poverty. It is not we who are idealistic, it is the government, the Minister of the Interior, the Prime Minister, and he who appointed them, who are racist.]

Francis Chouat (2013), the mayor of Evry takes a position in Le Monde on Valls controversial statements. As mayor, his perspective requires him to take pragmatic solutions about the concerns of his citizens. In the case of Rroma, this means that one must looks straight at the truth. Chouat believes that most of the Rroma living in the illegal settlements live in conditions of exploitation or as part of mafia networks. They therefore have virtually no power to act own or are involved in criminal activities: “La vérité, c’est d’abord la réalité regarder en face. Ce sont les conditions de vie dans les campestratus ment, totalement indignes, les enfants en danger, souvent exploites – comme beaucoup de femmes – par of réseaux mafieux. Ce sont aussi les vols et les Trafics organisés. […] La vérité, c’est donc dire que le claire ment of démantèlement campestratus ment est un impératif. Un pour les impératif Riverains comme pour la roms dignité of populations.”[The truth is, first look at reality. These are the living conditions in the camps, totally unworthy, children at risk, often exploited – like many women – by criminal networks. There is also the trafficking and organized theft. […] The truth is it clear that dismantling these settlements is a must. An imperative for local residents as to the dignity of the Roma population.] Chouat aligns himself to a governmental police way of looking at Rroma, to the eviction of camps which he thus legitimises. The possibility that the Rroma living in camps might simply settle there because of poverty and lack of alternatives is negated. Instead questionable ideas about intra-ethnic clan structures and relations of exploitation are dished to legitimise intervention.

Mouillard (2013) addresses the question of where the EU’s 50 billions earmarked for the Rroma integration went. On one hand, the EU support is divided into three pots: the European Social Fund, the European Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund. From these three funds in turn only a fraction will benefit Rroma. The actual expenditure for the integration of Rroma is difficult to track because the French Household Statistics do not work with ethnic categories. The integration projects named by Mouillard thereafter refer to travellers, people living in ghettoes or marginalised ones as in the case of housing projects. Another problem lies in the fact that EU countries only use a fraction of their assigned money from three funds effectively: “Mêmes faiblesses en Hongrie, où 40% des fonds sont dépensés, ou encore en Bulgarie (20%). Une précision tout de même : cet argent n’est pas perdu. Il retourne dans les caisses de Bruxelles, au titre de la règle du «dégagement d’office.»” [Same weaknesses in Hungary, where 40% of the funds are spent, or in Bulgaria (20%). Accuracy though: the money is not lost. It is returned to the coffers of Brussels, under the rule of “decommitment.”] Another problem lies in the administrative and organizational hurdles, making the access to the funds more difficult.

[1] This figure represents only the visible Rroma. Rroma were very well integrated in Kosovo and often confused with the Turkish minority. The real number was around 250-300,000. Less than 30,000 still live in Kosovo.

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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 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 Polemic in France

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Francois Hollande, in a public statement, asked his ministers decidedly to end the controversy on Rroma. According to the government spokesman Najat Vallaud Belkacem,  Hollande pointed out that “solidarity, unity and responsibility” was expected from the ministers. Hollande also considered it unworthy that he had to point out the problematic of this issue to the deputies. The home minister Duflot had asked Hollande for a statement after Valls racist abuse (TAZ 2013).

ORF (2013) points out that the criticism of the EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding on the French Rroma policies led to strong expressions of antipathy towards the European Union. The President of the French National Assembly, Claude Bartolone, called, Viviane Reding the “Mother with the whip.” Even before Reding’s criticism, a spokesman for the EU Commissions had pointed out that violations by France of EU law, in this case of the non-compliance to the freedom of movement, would not be tolerated. The behaviour of some EU countries towards Rroma is not worthy of the 21st Century. Manuel Valls, who is clearly belonging to the right wing of the socialist party, had to endure heavy criticism from his own party. Valls meanwhile insists on a rigorous order policy. He stated: “It is our responsibility to ensure that the centre of our cities, in the middle of residential areas and in the middle of the capital no such camps and misery housing does not occur.”

Radio Dreyeckland (2013) spoke with Marion Cadier who wrote a report for Amnesty International on the forced evictions of Rroma camps in France. The report concludes that since the last review in 2012, the situation of Rroma has not improved. The number of evictions of informal camps has even increased. This practice is also contrary to human rights conventions, since they violate the right to housing, as people living there are made homeless. Although the circular of August 2012 is a progress, it had only been applied very poorly. The evictions render the Rroma integration more difficult and has produced many more homeless people. Temporary lodging in hotel rooms is also a poor alternative because they usually lie in the periphery of the cities and make schooling and social networking difficult. Among more positive points, one notes the abolition of a hiring fee for Romanians and Bulgarians and the provision of funds for integration projects. She also emphasizes that expulsion are falsely referring to the nomadic lifestyle of the Rroma.

Hopquin (2013) reports on a trial of seven Croatian Rroma indicted in France for child trafficking and incitement to crimes. The case reinforces widespread stereotypes about organised delinquency among the Rroma. The defendants had acted under the leadership of a 66 year old woman and dealt in groups of children were to commit thefts for the buyer in France. Hopquin makes no effort to relate the events real events, but uses the presumptuous “cultural reproduction”, in which organized crime which the defendant had assimilated is presented as part of the Rroma culture.

Manuel Valls statements about, in his opinion, non-integration capabilities of Rroma led to different statements by government officials. While the rightist deputies showed great sympathy for Valls and his Rroma policies, in his own party, the socialist party his statements are controversial. But not to all. Significant parts of the left is in favour of a repressive policy towards the Rroma. Valls himself, meanwhile, has never apologised for his remarks, but merely regretted how they had been interpreted (Le Parisien).

In a linguistically brilliant letter, Lefort (2013) appeals to Manuel Valls. Lefort descends from Spanish Kale. He asks Valls to remind himself that he immigrated with his family to France and became a French citizen in 1982, and that many French have an immigrant background. That migration usually occurs for a valid reason and is not a lifestyle. He pleads that Valls should not abandon the historical responsibility that one has towards the Rroma as victims of National Socialism. In addition, many French Rroma fought in the resistance against the Nazis and the Franco regime. This also should not be forgotten. To assign them a “tendency” towards return to Romania and Bulgaria, negates the reason for their arrival: The lack of recognition as a minority of Statea and populationa. Lefort observes: “La guerre mondiale est venue. Et les camps nazis se sont aussi ouverts aux Tziganes. Tu le sais. Mais un nombre énorme de Manouches, de Gitans et d’Espagnols se sont engagés dans la Résistance sur le sol français. Ton père aurait pu en être […] je te demande le respect absolu pour celles et ceux qui se sont engagés dans la Résistance contre le franquisme, puis ensuite contre le nazisme et le fascisme. Contre ceux qui avaient fait Guernica. Et pourtant, à te suivre, ils avaient «vocation» à retourner ou à rester dans leur pays d’origine, ces «étrangers, et nos frères pourtant…»” [World War came. And Nazi camps were also opened for Gypsies. You know it. But a huge number of Manouche, Gypsies and Spaniards enrolled in the Resistance on the French soil. Your father could have been among them […] I ask you for absolute respect for those who were engaged in the resistance against Franco, then against Nazism and fascism. Against those who did Guernica. Yet, to listen to you, they have a  “vocation” to return to or remain in their country of origin, these “strangers, and yet our brothers…”]

Conan (2013) points out that Valls statements are almost exactly the same as the ones made last August by Louis Souchal, the confidant of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. Louis Souchal is also convinced that many of the Romanian and Bulgarian Rroma do not want to integrate in France, but only came here to improve their financial situation as stated in an interview: “Les migrants roumains sont en effet sur des migrations pendulaires organisées. Leur but est de venir en France pour gagner de l’argent puis de rentrer en Roumanie construire une maison (…) D’ailleurs, il faut éviter de penser qu’il s’agit “d’intégrer les Roms”, on intègre seulement “des familles”. On s’en aperçoit lors des diagnostics sur les campements avant les expulsions. Récemment, sur un terrain où il y avait 22 familles, seules deux présentaient vraiment des signes de projets en France.” [Romanian migrants are indeed engaged in pendular migration. Their goal is to come to France to earn money and then return to Romania to build a house (…) Indeed, we must avoid thinking that it is about “to integrate Roma”, one only integrates “families”. This can be seen in the diagnostics in the camps before the evictions. Recently, in an place where there were 22 families, only two really showed signs of having projects in France.]  It is still unclear on which sources Souchal bases his statements. They stand in contrast to statements made by engaged people such as Lefort, who observe a migration due to lack of integration and lack of future prospects. At the same time it is also known that transnational relations with the home country can lead to a better integration in the host country and is not simply, as is now represented,  an evidence of a lack of willingness to integrate.

The Mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, meanwhile, calls for a consistent way of applying the circular of August 2012, requesting a timely information of the stakeholders, the organisation of alternative accommodation options and a better distribution of Rroma across the country. To put the people on the street, Aubry criticises, bring nothing and complicates the integration (Pagura 2013).

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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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