Newsroom

The contribution of European Funds to the inclusion of the Roma population. High Level Meeting in Hungary

13-15 October 2009

The first of a series of High Level Events on the most effective ways to use resources from the structural funds in order to improve the conditions of the Roma took place in Hungary between the 13th and 15th October 2009.

Participants at the Meeting

The European institutions as well as Member States of the European Union (EU) have a shared responsibility improving the social inclusion of Roma people using all instruments and policies available.

In the first Roma summit, held in Brussels on 16^th September 2008, the European Commission undertook to organize high-level meetings in the Member States to highlight the importance of making the best use of the Structural Funds to improve the situation of the Roma population.

The ultimate goal of these high-level meetings is to share the wide range of actions and initiatives undertaken by governments, international organizations, NGOs as well as other institutions, and explore how all this wealth of experience can help channel resources from the Structural Funds to improve the social and economic situation of Roma in the most effective.

The first of these meetings took place in Hungary on 13, 14 and 15 of October, and it was really a meeting at the highest level, with the presence of President of the Republic Mr. László Sólyom, the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social and Equal Opportunities, Mr. Vladimir Spidla, and several ministers, parliamentarians and Hungarian officials along with representatives at the highest level of the European Commission.

This has served to arouse a greater interest in public authorities and Hungarian society as a whole, specially enforced by the media coverage that this meeting has had, but mainly served to highlight the political commitment at the highest political level in their responsibilities in the use of a European economic instrument, such as Structural Funds, in integrating the Roma community, which ultimately is a national policy decision.

The meeting was attended by about 200 people, with wide participation from governments, institutions and NGOs in Hungary, but also an extensive representation of the European Commission and Member States. Euroma Network was present by means of the Technical Secretariat, this initiative was congratulated by the Director General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission, Mr. Robert Verrue.

Gallery

Mr. V. Spidla and Mr. S. László