español |
english |
Private area
Private area
European Network on Social Inclusion and Roma under the Structural Funds
Structural Funds: Investing in Roma
Private area
European Network on Social Inclusion and Roma under the Structural Funds
Structural Funds: Investing in Roma
The Roma are not registered separately from other Greek citizens, neither in the national census nor in the municipal rolls. As a result of this, there is no precise official number of the Roma population as such. The estimated population varies between 250.000 and 300.000 people. Those in need of housing amount approximately to 70,000 – 80,000 people. Roma communities live in circa 150 - 230 cities and towns.
The Roma enjoy by constitutional law all the civic and political rights entitled to Greek citizens (electoral – voting rights, freedom of association, syndicalism, expression etc). Therefore, (Greek) Roma in Greece participate in and constitute political parties, they vote and get elected, they organise themselves in collective bodies and they participate in public life and in local government structures. Furthermore, with respect to their community's particular lifestyle and needs, the Greek Roma have been recognised by the State as a socially vulnerable group of the Greek population. As a result, the State has adopted and implements policies and measures of positive discrimination towards Greek Roma.
Within this context, in order to combat all forms of discrimination and to promote equality among citizens, focusing in particular to socially vulnerable groups of the population, the Hellenic State launched an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for the social inclusion of Greek Roma in 2002. The IAP was established as part of the National Action Plan for the social inclusion (NAPincl.) of socially vulnerable groups of the population. It aims at combating social exclusion and discrimination through the enforcement of field positive measures.
The IAP is coordinated by the Alternate Minister of the Interior on the basis of an Inter-Ministerial Committee engaging all co-responsible Ministries with actions affiliated to the Programme. The IAP is based on two priority axes aiming at the housing rehabilitation of Greek Roma (1st priority axis – infrastructures) and at the provision of services (2nd priority axis - services) in the fields of education, health, employment, culture and sports, with priority given to areas with projects of organised town building. The major problems of the IAP are that its actions are not matched with funds; it has an inadequate management structure and lacks coordination.
