Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-27-Speech-3-060"
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"en.20050427.8.3-060"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I take great pride in the fact that there are many Members in my group who are very committed to promoting the cause of the Roma and to following the latest developments in this field. I am also very glad that we have plenty of like-minded friends in the other groups, which makes it possible for us, tomorrow, to join together in writing a new chapter in the history of their integration.
What prompted me to press for us to discuss this issue now was a visit I made, as part of a delegation from this House, to Novi Sad, where, in the course of our investigations into the situation of the Hungarian minority, we saw, on the edge of the city, a district that was home to Roma who had been driven out of Kosovo, and where conditions defied description.
It is an unfortunate fact that, in all our past conflicts, the Roma were often the first victims. Even in the absence of such conflicts, though, they are in a far from satisfactory position, and that not just in the new Member States – where they are present in greater numbers – but also in many of the old ones. If we want to point the finger at other countries and give them advice on how to treat their minorities, then it is vitally important that we in Europe treat our own minorities accordingly – particularly the Roma, who are the largest of them – by giving them the opportunity to integrate and break the terrible vicious circle that sees many of them less well-educated, sometimes forced into segregated schools, with this lack of education meaning that they have less chance of getting a job and that their earning capacity is reduced. In turn, lower incomes mean more health problems, and so the vicious circle goes on. Together, we have to break it.
Some time ago, I proposed the appointment of a Commissioner with specific responsibility for minority issues and for the Roma’s problems in particular. Although nothing has been done about this, I am confident that the Roma issue is safe in Commissioner Špidla’s hands. I would follow Mrs Roure in asking him to include, in the Commission communication for which we are calling, not only a description of how things are, but also of how they could be, of what improvements might be made even without much in the way of power at European level.
You very rightly said, Commissioner, that this is a European problem and that we have to find a European answer to it, not only at European level, but also, of course, in the nation states. If our cooperation in this House helps us, tomorrow and by way of this resolution, to give some impetus to the process of finding one, we will have taken an important step.
It is your help, Commissioner, and that of the Commission, that will enable us to achieve a real and perceptible improvement over the next 10 years in the integration of the Roma and Sinti in Europe."@en1
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