The “EU Framework for national Roma integration strategies up to 2020” will be expiring later this year, and the European Union (EU) Commission is set to present a new strategic framework in the coming months. The need for a new holistic EU strategy has become palpable during the current pandemic, which is proving to significantly hurt Roma communities in Europe through increased discrimination.
AN INSUFFICIENT FRAMEWORK
There are approximately 10-12 million Roma living in Europe, of which 6 million are within the EU, making the Roma the largest minority in the EU. Despite both international and EU law prohibiting ethnic and racial discrimination, Roma constitute one of the most marginalised groups in the EU. They are often subject to poverty and social exclusion due to extensive discrimination and human rights violations.
In the effort to tackle this problem, the EU Commission put forward the “EU framework for national Roma integration strategies up to 2020” in 2011. This framework encouraged member states to adopt national Roma integration strategies (NRIS), focusing on four crucial areas: access to education, employment, healthcare and housing. Almost all member states did set up NRIS. However, as reports from the EU Commission and EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) have revealed, the results have been far from satisfying, showing no tangible improvements except in access to primary education. According to FRA, 80% of the Roma population live below the poverty-risk threshold of their country, about one third live in households without running water, 57% are without paid work, and 26% are not covered by basic national health insurance.
INCREASING RISK DURING COVID-19
The lack of access to running water and health insurance, and the fact that 78% of Roma live in overcrowded housing, have put Roma at increasing risk of being exposed to Covid-19. European states have thus far taken insufficient measures to ensure that their rights to health and protection against discrimination are guaranteed. Amnesty International has reported how states have put discriminatory quarantine measures on Roma settlements, and a new report from European Roma Rights Center recounts major human rights abuses including several cases of police brutality across Europe since the outbreak of the virus. In countries such as Sweden, evictions of Roma and other vulnerable EU-citizens living in informal settlements have continued despite the UN recommending moratoriums on such actions. Given all this, the EU must work to proactively improve the lives of Roma in Europe.
A POST-2020 STRATEGY TARGETING ANTI-ROMA RACISM
The EU Commission is due to present the Post-2020 Strategy on Roma Equality and Inclusion on October 6 according to the College Agenda. In a speech to the EU parliament in July, the Commissioner for Equality, Dr. Helena Dalli, emphasized that the strategy needs to put “(…) a stronger focus on promoting equality for Roma by fighting antigypsism and discrimination, hand in hand with promoting socio-economic inclusion”. This approach is something that human rights organizations and activists have been advocating for, and have criticized the existing framework for failing in. As scholars Dr. Ingi Iusmen and Dr. Margareta Matache write, Roma inclusion cannot be achieved without tackling anti-Roma racism and discrimination simultaneously.
According to Euronews, there are no plans to make the new strategy into a binding directive. This is despite organizations such as Open Society Foundations’ statement that initiating a binding agreement is necessary to have member states fully implementing these strategies. For MEP Romeo Franz, a non-binding agreement is not enough. He has instead submitted his own resolution which the EU parliament adopted on September 17. The resolution calls on the Commission to put forth a legal act with binding objectives to fight social exclusion, poverty and anti-Roma racism.
With Germany declaring in August that Roma and Sinti inclusion will be a central issue during their presidency of the Council of the European Union, the EU is about to embark on what could be a decisive period for the future of Roma rights in Europe.
Mattias holds a BA in Human Rights Studies at Lund University. He is currently pursuing an MA in International Administration and Global Governance at the University of Gothenburg and he is a National Network Administrator at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.