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spotlight europe 2009/03, March 2009: Roma Integration in Europe – Mission (Im)possible?
Abstract
The Roma people are the largest ethnic minority in the European Union. However, in many EU member states they have not been sufficiently integrated. Recently there have been disagreements between EU states on the Roma – the treatment of the Roma has led to a dispute between Italy and Romania. This analysis provides a short survey of the situation of the Roma in Europe and of past European initiatives.
... As stated earlier, actual numbers of Roma living in the EU are disputed. Estimates indicate that the real numbers are usually two to three times higher than what the official statistics show (Emiryan, 2009). Thus the vast majority of the Roma population is extremely underprivileged in their country of residence and their fundamental rights are constantly violated or ignored (Thelen, 2005). ...
... However, this impermanent settlement status was reinforced by the ineffective policies designed to integrate Roma population within European communities. According to Emiryan (2009) Most socialist regimes of the 1950s and 1960s in Central and Eastern European countries implemented aggressive policies to assimilate Roma and incorporate them into mainstream society. This was to be achieved through the provision of improved housing, aiming for higher educational enrollment figures and guaranteed employment. ...
The status quo of Roma communities in Europe is strongly marked by marginalisation and discrimination. Roma people tend to face social exclusion and segregation leading to lack of education, chronic unemployment and limited access to healthcare, housing and public services as well as widespread poverty. Very few studies have been conducted as far as Roma community in Cyprus are concerned and almost none has explored quality of life of this ethnic minority. Therefore, this article examines quality of life dimensions in approximately half of the population (n = 156) residing in the catchment area. Both quantitative and qualitative results showed poor standards of living, high school dropout rates and high levels of marginalisation. Social work as discipline can foster a more empowering and coordinating role as to enhance Roma’s distinctive identity and improve standards of living.
... Roma became targets of minority policy primarily as a result of external pressure, in the framework of EU conditionality.(Ligeois and Gheorghe 1995;Crowe 1999 and European Roma Rights Center 2001 and Barany 1998Barany , 2002 Barany , 2004 Fox 2001; Klimova 2002;Ram 2009; Vermeersch 2003 Vermeersch , 2006 Vermeersch , and 2009 Vermeersch and Ram 2009;Emiryan 2009) ...
In the process of its “Eastern Enlargement,” the integrating European Union created arguably the most densely institutionalized minority rights regime in any region in the world. Although the specific forms that minority protection should take were not mandated by European institutions, a broadly shared expectation was that “Europeanization” and democratization together would moderate nationalist aspirations in post-communist Europe, where a history of competitive nation-building and shifting borders had made societies particularly vulnerable to “ethnic conflict.” Yet almost two decades after the beginning of the “transition” from Communism to democracy and from the Soviet bloc to the EU, we know remarkably little about the resulting patterns of majority-minority competition and minority integration in the region. In an effort to advance our understanding of those patterns, this paper explores the broader issue of minority integration by focusing on the way minorities use political resources to negotiate claims in the framework of democratic contestation. In the CEE countries that have joined the EU since 2004 as consolidated democracies, significant variation emerged in this respect, despite similarities in the considerable structural limitations that minority actors faced in shaping institutions. The paper addresses the question of how different types of minorities have participated in the institutions of democratic contestation, by exploring the distinction between historic/territorial and non-historic/territorial minorities. Perhaps the most consistent organizing principle of majority-minority relations in Europe has been the notion of inherited rights to institutions, according to which: (a) members of the state’s national majority have an a priori right to the state, while (b) the rights of minorities are structured by a hierarchical distinction between historic minorities and immigrant groups. The analysis focuses on four new EU member states: Romania and Slovakia (with historic Hungarian minorities); and Estonia and Lithuania (with Russian-speakers that are viewed as recent settlers in both states and a historic Polish minority in Lithuania). The comparative evaluation indicates that the notion of inherited institutions remains a significant source of political action for majorities and also helps explain the way minorities claim and “inhabit” political institutions in these newly consolidated European democracies.
Независимо от общото развитие на България през последните
години, все още много семейства в страната живеят с ниски доходи и без
необходимата социална защита. Особено тежко е положението сред ром-
ските общности и в районите със слабо икономическо развитие. Там
перспективата за постоянен поминък е само добро пожелание, а често
единствената алтернатива за препитание е работата зад граница. Всъщност
за част от семействата, изпаднали в безизходица, съществува и друга въз-
можност - да започнат собствен семеен бизнес. За тази цел те имат нужда
от финансова и експертна помощ. Опитът на програма „Земята - източник
на доходи” показа, че дори в тежки икономически условия успешно могат
да се приложат различни механизми за стимулиране на стопански
инициативи.
Моделът е развит в процеса на работата с безимотни ромски семей-
ства от няколко села в Пловдивска област, желаещи да станат собственици
на земя и да развиват самостоятелна селскостопанска дейност. Той е из-
пробван и в градска среда. Може да се адаптира и е приложим за различни
общности в неравностойно положение. Най-важно условие за успешното
му прилагане е използването на интегриран подход за устойчиво развитие
на собствен бизнес. Този подход обединява два компонента, които са в
пряка зависимост:
· Достъп до материални ресурси;
· Развитие на човешкия потенциал.
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