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EURoma network attended the II European Roma Summit

EURoma attended the second European Roma Summit held last 8th and 9th April 2010 in Cordoba organised by the European Commission and the Spanish Ministry of Health and Social Policy in the framework of the Spanish presidency activities.

The first product of the network, the EURoma report, was presented in the Summit

Portrait of EURoma Report

EURoma, as a European Network on Social Inclusion and Roma under the Structural Funds, was included in the agenda of the Second European Roma Summit. Carlos Tortuero, representative of the Spanish Managing Authority of the European Social Fund (ESF) introduced the network in the round table “Assessment of Policies: progress and limitations”.

One of the stands of the summit was dedicated to EURoma and the report “Roma and the Structural Funds” was disseminated (at the moment it is only available the English version). METER LINK INFORME

This product will be presented in the participating countries of the network and some of them have decided to translate it into the local languages.

The Joint Statement by the Trio Presidency on the occasion of the Roma Summit represents a step forward

The first day of the Summit, 8 April was the International Roma day (celebrated since 1971). This symbolic timing, chosen by the Spanish presidency, acknowledged that Roma are an integral part of the history and civilisation of Europe.

The aim of the Summit was to take stock of the achievements undertaken at EU level for Roma inclusion, over the past two years, and to renew the commitments. Within the recent developments at EU level, the Summit placed a particular focus on the 10 Common Basic Principles for Roma inclusion. On 8 June 2009, the Council of Ministers in charge of Social affairs in the EU Member States, annexed the Principles to their conclusions and invited Member States and the Commission to take them into account when they design, implement and evaluate policies. At the second European Roma Summit, four workshops ran in parallel in order to debate on the principles of "explicit but not exclusive targeting", "awareness of the gender dimension", "use of community instruments" and "involvement of civil society".

Another particular attention was paid to the cunning issue of Roma health, to which a plenary discussion was fully dedicated on the second day of the Summit. Roma health is one of the most important issues for Roma inclusion, and a priority of the Spanish Presidency.

The Trio of the Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian Presidencies adopted a declaration at the end of the Summit which highlighted the joint commitment for the mainstreaming of Roma issues into all relevant policies, a roadmap for the actions of the European Platform for Roma inclusion, the effective use of the EU Structural Funds to this end and the follow up of the Summit in Council.

As main inputs from the Commission to the Summit, at the EU level, two very important and far-reaching policy documents were released on 7th April 2010:

the Communication on the social and economic integration of Roma in Europe, COM(2010)133
A Progress Report on the implementation of the EU instruments and policies for Roma inclusion 2008-2010 (Commission Staff Working Document), SEC(2010)400

More info at:

http://www.eu2010.es/en/agenda/otrasreunionesministeriales/evento022.html

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=518&langId=es&eventsId=234&furtherEvents=yes