Debate: Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation
Date: THURSDAY, 20 MAY 2021
Speaker: Ana Paula Zacarias
Language: EN

The social exclusion of Roma is an injustice that we in the European Union have failed to address with sufficient determination. It’s already a decade since the first EU framework for national integration strategies was put in place and, sadly, the results so far are disappointing. The figures are striking. As many as 63% of Roma aged between 20 and 64 have no employment, education or training. The corresponding EU average is 12%. Allow me also to recall some of the facts cited in the resolution that this Parliament adopted in September last year. In countries with the largest population of Roma, about 80% of Roma live below the poverty line, one in three lives in a household without tap water and only half have an indoor flush toilet or a shower. Only one in two Roma children attend preschool or kindergarten and a mere fifth of Roma women and a quarter of Roma men have completed secondary education. These figures show that equality is not yet a reality in the EU and that life chances in our Union are not the same for all.  The situation of Europe’s Roma is the legacy of long—term inequality, lack of opportunities, prejudice, outright racism and discrimination. Uniquely disadvantaged, the Roma community is trapped in intergenerational poverty and it is time to break the cycle of disadvantage. Our credibility as a just and fair union is at stake.  The social dimension is one of the three main priorities of the Portuguese Presidency. I firmly believe that social fairness belongs at the heart of everything the Union does, today more than ever, as we recover from the COVID pandemic and we grapple with the enormous challenges that the shifts associated with green and digital transitions produce. At a time of hardship and uncertainty, it is essential that all citizens can count on the European social model and the values that underpin it: solidarity, convergence and cohesion. We have all suffered during the crisis, but for many Roma its effects were compounded with pre-existing inequalities, as your resolution once again usefully reminds us. On the broad principles and values that make our social model there is broad consensus in Europe. We saw this clearly two weeks ago in Oporto for the Porto Social Summit, a landmark event, which the European Parliament also strongly supported and contributed to. A vision of a just and inclusive recovery is now clearly enshrined in the Porto Social Commitment and the Porto Declaration, the essence of a common vision summed up in three headline targets on employment, training and poverty reduction. This was unanimously endorsed. These three targets are crucially relevant for Roma. As we all know, the first ten—year campaign designed at EU level to improve the lives of Roma, ended last year. The Commission tabled new initiatives in the autumn. The Council wasted no time in responding. In March this year, the Member States adopted a new Council recommendation that seeks to give fresh momentum to their policies. The three pillars of the recommendation are echoed in the title of today’s debate: equality, inclusion and participation. To date, our efforts have focused largely on education, employment, healthcare and housing. The new framework will seek to strengthen this approach by increasing the emphasis on three other core objectives: first, fighting and preventing anti—gypsyism and discrimination; second, reducing poverty and exclusion so as to close the social economic gap; and, third, promoting active participation through the empowerment and trust of these communities. The Member States have undertaken to present their new strategic framework to the Commission very soon, preferably by September this year. Meanwhile the Fundamental Rights Agency has been tasked with carrying out regular surveys every four years to ensure that we monitor progress objectively. It is true that Member States have the key competence and the main responsibility for ensuring the well—being of their citizens, including minorities, but the added value of cooperation, inspiration and mutual learning is real and the Union supports its Member States through relevant funds and programmes so we need to use them well. To conclude, let’s remember our ultimate priority: Europe’s people. When we speak of Europe, we speak of a social Europe that puts the well—being of its citizens first, especially the ones that are left behind and more vulnerable.