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European Network on Social Inclusion and Roma under the Structural Funds
Structural Funds: Investing in Roma
28 September 2009
The European Union (EU) Platform for Roma Inclusion, an open and flexible mechanism of governance organised jointly by the European Commission and the EU Presidency, held its second meeting on the 28th of September 2009 in Brussels.
The European Union (EU) Platform for Roma Inclusion, an open and flexible mechanism of governance organised jointly by the European Commission and the EU Presidency at the request of the Council, held its second meeting on the 28th of September 2009 in Brussels. The second meeting of the Platform was organised by the Swedish Presidency of the EU (under the leadership of the Swedish Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality) and the Comission (led by the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimír Špidla, and the Commissioner for Education and Culture, Jan Figel).
The Platform is a recent initiative, designed as a process driven by participants rather than a formal body. It has been established as a mechanism through which EU institutions, national governments, multilateral organisations, NGOs and experts share experiences and good practice in order to increase the coherence of existing policy initiatives and improve coordination between institutions. It established ten Common Basic Principles of Roma inclusion at its first meeting in April 2009, adopted as part of the Council conclusions on the 8th of June 2009, which reassert the commitment of the EU to social cohesion and inclusion. The Commission and Council have repeatedly expressed their commitment to enforcing existing EU legislation prohibiting discrimination on grounds of ethnicity or race in education, employment, social protection and access to goods and services. The EU also provides financial support for projects and programmes to improve Roma inclusion under the European Structural Funds.
The meeting focused on the issue of how to improve access by the Roma to quality education, considered as the fundamental precondition for the social inclusion of the Roma. In a joint statement, Commissioners Špidla and Figel asserted that: "The inclusion of the Roma is a litmus test for the EU as a community of rights and values. Only if we can guarantee that every Roma man, woman and child has both equal rights, but also equal chances in life, can we honour the values on which the EU is built. We need pragmatic, constructive and non-discriminatory policies which are targeted to Roma without excluding other people in a similarly disadvantaged situation."
Restricted access to quality education often triggers a vicious circle of rising inequality through unemployment, poverty, poor housing and health. By widening the gap between the Roma and majority populations, it also increases the risk of social instability. The second meeting of the Platform also emphasised that Roma inclusion is in the economic interest of the EU member states, by increasing productivity and state revenues. Furthermore, Roma inclusion will help develop a qualified workforce in conditions of an ageing society. One of the four pillars of the EU's newly adopted strategic framework "Education and Training 2020" consists in mainstreaming the specific needs of Roma into national education policies and the management of schools in order to secure equity, inclusion and cohesion.
An important theme of the meeting was the need for an integrated approach to education. Commissioner Špidla argued that: "Not only is education important for employment prospects, but also parents' employment, housing situation and access to social services are inextricably linked to the success rate of Roma children in the educational process. Therefore, it is vital that policies for Roma education are not dealt with in isolation from those in employment and social affairs, housing and public health."
The meeting was opened by the Roma Education Fund, which focused on key problems of the Roma in the education system and their root causes. Subsequently, three model case studies, the Swedish policy on mainstreaming education, the Hungarian equal opportunities funding policy and a local project from Timisoara (Romania) on Roma women against segregation were presented.
The Platform, which endorses the responsibility of member states for the key areas for Roma inclusion – education, employment, social inclusion, health services or the infrastructure and urban planning – will use coordination in order to support benchmarking and mutual learning and the mobilisation of EU Structural Funds to implement policies to improve the situation of the Roma.
What next?
The European Commission will publish a report representing a follow-up of its analysis of Community instruments and policies for Roma inclusion in early 2010 (see IP/08/1072 ). This report will focus on the progress achieved since mid-2008.
The future Spanish EU Presidency and the European Commission will organise the second European Roma Summit on 8 April 2010 in Córdoba to assume the different strands of action. The first Roma Summit took place in Brussels on 16 September 2008 – see IP/08/1326 and MEMO/08/559 .
In June, the EU Council adopted a number of conclusions on the inclusion of the Roma at its 2947th Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs meeting, held in Luxemburg on the 8th of June 2009.
The Council acknowledged that policies for Roma inclusion are most effective when 1) they are concurrently targeted and aimed at the inclusion of Roma in mainstream society, 2) they are actively supported by Roma representatives, taking into account gender balance in decision-making, 3) Roma actively participate as full and equal partners in the design, implementation and monitoring of all policies concerning them, including through relevant NGOs.
It welcomed the first European Roma Summit on 16th September 2008 (Brussels), the first meeting of the European Platform for Roma Inclusion in April 2009 (Prague), the upcoming second European Roma Summit in April 2010 (Córdoba), the European Commission’s report on Community Instruments and Policies for Roma Inclusion published in July 2008 and the general mobilisation of EU institutions, Member States and civil society actors for the achievement of the full and equal participation of all Roma in European society.
The Council invited all Member States and the European Commission to take into account, in close cooperation, the European Platform’s Common Basic Principles on Roma Inclusion when designing and implementing policies to defend fundamental rights, uphold gender equality, combat discrimination, poverty and social exclusion, as well as in the EU’s relation with third countries.The Platform will be used to exchange good practice and experience between Member States.
