Implementation of national Roma strategies in progress – Further efforts needed

The European Commission has presented this year's assessment of the European Roma inclusion process in the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs titled 'Steps forward in implementing national Roma integration strategies' as well as its proposal for a Council recommendation on effective Roma integration measures in the Member States, which is expected to be on the agenda of December's Council meeting.

 

 

 

Hungarian MEP Lívia Járóka (Fidesz), Rapporteur of the EU strategy on Roma inclusion welcomed the critics and proposals of the documents, but highlighted that although the European Framework for National Roma Inclusion Strategies was so far the most promising initiative to foster Roma inclusion and some positive measures had been introduced under each of the Framework's priority fields in the Member States, progress in the field was unbearably slow and the impact was nearly imperceptible. She emphasized that a number of fundamental weaknesses need to be remedied so that the Framework could trigger tangible improvement until the end of the decade. As an example, she mentioned the lack of outcome indicators and headline targets, the need for proper financing and the involvement of Roma communities, and necessity of a stronger territorial focus. Lívia Járóka's comments on the Commission's documents can be found here.