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The European Union (EU) has announced new measures to improve the social inclusion of the Roma in response to the “increasing pressure and discrimination” of racist and xenophobic groups in some member states.

The European Fundamental Rights Agency has analysed the situation of the Roma population in a ‘data in focus’ report, the first in a series of reports on minority groups and issues covered by the survey EU-MIDIS.

Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Spain representatives at the International Conference on Equal Opportunity Funding Policy drew the attention of all stakeholders on the fact that the “Equal Access of Roma to EU Funds is essential for strengthening social inclusion”.

“Cohesion Policy, Structural Funds and Roma inclusion”

Slovakia took over the year-long presidency of the Decade of Roma Inclusion (2005-2015) on July 1

In order to improve and develop a long-term strategy for the next programming period, the Greek government invited four peer-countries (Finland, France, Hungary and Spain) as well as national and regional Greek institutions and experts to comment on the programme. European representatives and national experts as well as other relevant institutions working on the social inclusion of the Roma contributed to the meeting.

Last April, the institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) in Bonn released a research report identifying indicators for tracking and reporting on the results of the Roma inclusion policies between 2005-2015 at national levels and across the Decade Countries.

On May 27th, ERIO organized the conference “Roma Migration: A European Challenge”, held on the premises of the European Social and Economic Committee.

In a joint statement issued on the occasion of the International Roma Day (8 April), four leading European human rights bodies expressed deep concern regarding the continuing discriminatory treatment and exclusion of the Roma.