Debate: Segregation and discrimination of Roma children in education
Date: THURSDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2023
Speaker: Elisa Ferreira
Language: EN

As you know, many Roma throughout Europe continue to suffer from exclusion and discrimination, and I had the chance to visit personally some of these settlements.  Regarding educational segregation, the situation has worsened in recent years. It is unacceptable that more than one out of two Roma children attends a school where all or most pupils are Roma.  The European Commission strongly condemns all sorts and forms of discrimination, racism and xenophobia, including anti-Gypsyism. We are committed to eradicating segregation and combating discrimination and exclusion.  While the main competence for education lies with the Member States, the Commission addresses school segregation and discrimination through a comprehensive set of policy funding and substantial funding and legal instruments.  Our actions to fight discrimination build on an established legal framework. This includes the non-discrimination and equality principles enshrined in the Treaties and the Racial Equality Directive, which prohibits segregation in education.  The European Union Roma strategic framework for 2020-2030, sets out the objective of increasing effective equal access to quality, inclusive, mainstream education. This objective is linked to European Union quantitative headline targets, such as cutting the proportion of Roma children attending segregated schools at least in half by 2030.  The Member States confirmed their commitment to fostering Roma inclusion, equality and participation by unanimously adopting a Council recommendation in 2021. This recommendation sets out concrete measures to improve access to education and prevent segregation. In their national Roma strategic frameworks, all Member States with larger Roma populations have developed the measures to prevent segregation, and these are incorporated in their proposal for multi-annual funding. So they have the financial instruments also to do it and also to help transition Roma pupils from segregated schools into mainstream education.  We have acknowledged these efforts also in reports, in our assessment report adopted in January, but we also consider that in some cases the measures still appear insufficient. Therefore, we call on the Member States to step up their efforts to eradicate segregation. We ask Member States to make full use of European funding – and a lot of pressure has been put exactly on this dimension – to support Roma equality and inclusion, in particular under the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. To ensure that this funding achieves the greatest possible benefits for Roma, the relevant partnership agreements and programmes include provisions on the segregation and non-discrimination, not only at a strategic level, but also in designing concrete measures, calls and selection criteria.  Under the 2021-2027 cohesion policy, Member States can use the ESF+ and ERDF to promote the socioeconomic inclusion of marginalised communities and disadvantaged groups, including Roma communities. Under the ESF+, more than EUR 1.7 billion are programmed for Roma inclusion under a specific objective or through mainstream measures benefiting vulnerable groups.  Actions under the ESF+, including teacher training and support for pupils moving to mainstream settings, are complementing and complemented by regional funded measures, such as building non-segregated schools and providing access to school transport.  The Commission addresses the discrimination and segregation of Roma children as part of the European Semester. Under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, several national plans include reforms and investments supporting desegregation and inclusion.  The Commission assesses the satisfactory fulfilment of related milestones and targets once it receives the respective requests for payment. In those cases where the prohibition of educational segregation is not respected, the Commission is ready to use all available tools to help remedy the situation.  This can include the launch of infringement procedures. The Commission has launched infringement procedures against three Member States. On 19 April, it referred Slovakia to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to tackle the issue of school segregation.  Looking at the broader context of the European education area, equity remains one of the long-lasting challenges across Member States. Hence, we have introduced a specific indicator on equity in the 2022 Education and Training Monitor.  We need to put a strong focus on improving equity, inclusion and success for all. This all also confirmed by the 2023 Council resolution on the European Education Area.  In 2025, the Commission will publish a report to contribute to the update and improvement of the European Education Area and prepare for the Council’s review of strategic framework for 2026-2030.  In closing, let me reiterate that we are committed to supporting Member States in eradicating the segregation and discrimination of Roma children through all tools at our disposal.