Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-16-Speech-3-421"
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"Mr President, may I sum up once again: it was an extremely interesting debate and we all very clearly see the need to respond to this. I understand, of course, that you all want the fastest possible response.
I myself – and all those who know me know that this is perhaps a kind of hobby of mine outside politics – have always advocated human rights education. It is an education in tolerance. I can only say that I shall therefore certainly be including the issue of human rights education, which I regard as hugely important, in these guidelines.
Mrs de Groen-Kouwenhoven, I have to say here that the Commission is perhaps slow, but certainly not lazy. When you see that the European Council and in particular the OSCE have set up numerous programmes, mainly with the support of the European Commission, then you become aware that to all intents and purposes there are some very positive approaches to this.
My final comment applies to the issue of the trans-national minority. Here I would simply like to say that consideration should be given to the fact that the European Union does not have the authority to define minorities in the Member States themselves. You also know that it should be borne in mind in this context that social policy measures are not geared to ethnic origin, but always to individual needs. But as you know, the Member States in particular have a very different idea of what a minority is and how a minority is defined. This issue can therefore still not be resolved very quickly. In other respects, I am happy to pass on your comments. You will certainly be receiving guidelines on this soon.
I should tell you that there is also a directive, Directive 2000/43/EC, which already guarantees the application of the principle of equal treatment, with no differentiation between race or ethnic origin in the employment, social, and educational sectors and in access to and supply of goods and services, which also applies to the Roma. I believe this is also fundamental here. This directive also makes positive measures possible in the Member States. However, it is true that the Member States are not obliged to incorporate these measures into their national legislative provisions.
The European regulations do have to be applied, however, and I should say that we at the Commission have made the firm decision to ensure that they are implemented. The Commission has in fact initiated infringement procedures in the past year against 22 Member States that have not implemented the European regulations properly, including Italy, Mr Agnoletto.
As regards the integration of people in the job market, the European Social Fund is also our most important instrument for this. A substantial proportion of the measures targeted to improving the employability of the Roma can be co-financed by the European Social Fund. Between 2000 and 2006, approximately 275 million euros, for example, were earmarked for projects targeted specifically at integrating the Roma.
The high-level group of experts on the integration of ethnic minorities has pointed out that certain projects supported by the ESF, such as the Acceder programme in Spain, for instance, are excellent models of active integration of the Roma. I should therefore like to renew an urgent appeal to the individual states to make use of this opportunity. I agree with Mr Swoboda that it is not just the bodies of the nation states, of course, that play an important role here, but also often local organisations, of course.
As we all know, the social exclusion of the Roma is a complex phenomenon and a consistent approach covering all the important aspects of their lives is therefore needed to tackle it. This includes education, employment, health, housing and infrastructure. This approach requires efficient coordination at the level of the European institutions. I am convinced that real progress will be made over the next year with the help of these measures.
I have, of course, heard that many of you – not all – would like a certain Commissioner to take on this subject and I shall, of course, convey this to my colleague, Mr Špidla. But there is a wide variety of different subjects involved here and the most important thing, therefore, is effective coordination. You can certainly talk to Mr Špidla once again about the other issue.
I should like very briefly to single out a few items that were raised specifically during the debate. These included the question of how dialogue with civil society and also with the Roma themselves is going. I believe that dialogue such as this – and specifically on the course of action for the Roma and their children – is very important for guaranteeing the principle of non-discrimination on the one hand, and combating unemployment and promoting the social development of the regions in which the Roma live on the other hand, as well as toppling the barriers found mainly in the heads of the majority so that the Roma are recognised as a genuine part of this European culture.
I am in agreement here with all those who have raised this issue."@en1
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