Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-27-Speech-3-059"
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"en.20050427.8.3-059"2
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"The Roma issue belongs among the most complicated social and political issues within the space of the European Union. The implementation of various concepts has failed to bring a successful solution to the so-called Roma problem. All the attempts to address it as a social problem ran aground due to cultural differences. The efforts to integrate the Roma community often ended up in the attempts at its assimilation, which also failed. Because of its complexity, the Roma issue is clearly at the intersection of social, ethnic and/or minority problems. No doubt, the problem is not equally severe in all the countries. Thus, there are no Roma in the Baltic countries, but in the southern part of the European Union and in the new Member States, the problem quite often exceeds the capacity of a single country to tackle it.
It is apparent that in many countries the transformation to market economy has not created a win-win situation for the Roma. A substantial proportion of this minority have joined the ranks of those who did not manage and found it impossible to adjust to the new circumstances. Their unfavourable situation, extreme poverty and high unemployment cannot be accounted for by racial discrimination alone. The problem is very often much broader. It begins with the lack of education. Clearly the worst is the situation of those who live in remote localities, segregated settlements, often without access to school, electricity or running water, and in the regions with very high unemployment.
Slovakia was mentioned a few months ago in connection with the Roma – alleged forced sterilisations of Roma women. I want to repeat what our Deputy Prime Minister said before the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities – that a thorough police investigation proved that these forced and unlawful acts did not occur. At the same time, however, it also revealed that the legislation in this field is outdated and lacks clarity. Concluding, I would like to express my support for the resolution since there are a number of myths about the Roma and their situation, and perhaps even more prejudices, but a lack of real understanding.
I am convinced that the Roma problem transcends the boundaries of individual states and that it must be addressed as a European problem, just as Commissioner Špidla put it. It is truly necessary to make use of the best experience of individual countries and to channel structural funds to addressing the problem with the participation of Roma themselves – this is really the key point in this regard. I believe that this resolution is an appropriate and necessary step in that direction."@en1
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