Madam President, I would like to express my appreciation for Mr Belder’s report, which is also the topic of my contribution today. The report raises many relevant points. Many indeed, such as the issue of racism and discrimination in the candidate countries, require a great deal of attention. I hope that the candidate countries seeking membership of the EU will act upon the recommendations contained in the report and I also hope that our future partners, the enlargement countries, will soon sign up to the Community action programme against discrimination which will be tabled shortly in this Parliament. However, in my contribution, I would like to home in on the predicament of the Roma people, otherwise known as gypsies. Many Roma in the candidate Member States live in extremely abject conditions. They are frequently at the receiving end of all kinds of discrimination. Under the communist regime, they were subjected to an assimilation policy. After this, after 1989, they were more or less left to fend for themselves. For a long time, little attention was given to their predicament, but fortunately, the Council of Europe was the first to raise the alarm. In the light of enlargement, the Commission has now also accorded their problem priority status, and rightly so. Many governments in the candidate Member States concerned have also become active on this score, and many of us have noticed the sudden influx of gypsy groups into a number of Member States. Parliament would like to gain more insight into, and an overview of, all the actions and intentions on the part of the European Union and the Commission and would therefore ask the Commission to produce a coherent programme, based on strengthened cooperation, with objectives and timeframes. We want the European Union to get more directly involved in order to address the problems of the Roma. Not only the European Commission but also this Parliament would do well to pay a lot more attention to this. This should, first and foremost, be placed within a broader context. We should not just aim to combat discrimination and change people’s mentality. We also need to address the causes of discrimination. Regional developments and a sound social policy are indispensable tools in this. Roma often live in areas where everyone is struggling. We want to adopt an approach from a local perspective. Local communities and local governments play a key role in solving the problems of the Roma. This is the level at which improvement programmes need to be drawn up in the areas of education, housing and employment. They must be organised in such a way as to ensure that the entire population benefits. At the same time, local cooperation is an effective tool against prejudice and discrimination. Only at a local level can the negative cycle of disadvantage and discrimination be broken. The Roma’s own contribution is also important. As far as I am concerned, this too is a key word. Roma need to be able to stand up for themselves more. They need to become directly involved and given co-responsibility in order to improve their conditions. In my opinion, official recognition of the Roma as a minority could help them to achieve more political independence. In addition, there is a need for more specific action aimed at changing people’s mentality. The tendency to discriminate is often deep-rooted, even at government level. This needs to be given special attention. I also advocate sound cooperation between the European Union and the Council of Europe. We should make better use of the expertise developed within these circles. Finally, I would like to underline that, more than anything, there is a great need for tangible results in the short term. Many campaigns are being launched with a great deal of good will and the European Union is very active too. This is praiseworthy in itself. At the same time, however, I would ask the Commission to aim for swift and visible results, the goal being the European Union’s first enlargement. We can then prove to our own citizens that we have addressed the problem. Some investments require a lot of time and it takes a long time before they take effect, but other aspects, such as housing and tackling the employment issues, can yield tangible results sooner. We must address the problems facing the Roma in the candidate Member States themselves, which is, after all, where they live. In fact, we should do this as soon as possible in order to avoid this problem becoming our problem in six years or so.

Political group: PSE