Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-08-Speech-2-595-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110308.28.2-595-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, the European Union, as you know, is built on rights and values and these include the protection of minorities, the principle of free movement and the prohibition of discrimination – all these apply fully to the Roma.
The social and economic integration of Roma is, I think, a moral obligation, but also, as Parliament’s report rightly pointed out, an economic interest of our European societies. It is a priority for the EU and it needs commitment and the joint efforts of national and local authorities, civil society and the EU institutions.
I would like to congratulate Ms Lívia Járóka on the wonderful work she has been doing. She has been doing it by trying to integrate the whole House and getting a paper proposal which represents the meaningful input of parliamentarians from all political parties, and I think that is a real achievement. This will help us, Ms Járóka, to keep Roma inclusion high on the political agenda. It will help us to take the necessary steps to improve the situation of the Roma people and their social and economic integration into society.
Permit me to update you on where we stand. As you might remember, on 7 April 2010, the Commission adopted a communication on the social and economic integration of Roma in Europe, which was the first ever policy document dedicated specifically to Roma.
The communication contained a concrete list of actions to help Member States make their policies for Roma integration more effective and to define the main challenges ahead: discrimination, poverty, low educational achievement, labour market barriers, housing, segregation, and so on. Then came the assessment of the Commission’s internal Roma Task Force, which was set up on 7 September 2010, and which very clearly showed that there is no evidence that strong and proportionate measures are in place in the Member States to tackle the social and economic problems of a large part of the EU’s Roma population.
This situation is neither acceptable nor sustainable and therefore, the Commission is working on an EU framework for national Roma integration strategies which it will present in early April. This House has called for an EU strategy and the Commission is responding to this request. We all agree, I think, that we need effective policy planning and implementation, that we need a strategic approach. We also agree, I think, that the primary responsibility for Roma populations lies with the Member States in which these Roma populations are moving, and it is for that reason that the Commission is drawing up this EU framework combined with national Roma integration strategies, because we need both: we need to know where we are all going together and we need to know where each individual Member State will go in order to adapt specific policies to the problems of the Roma in that Member State.
The EU framework to be presented in April will build on your resolution, Ms Járóka, on the work of the Commission’s Roma Task Force and, of course, on the wide range of contributions received from Member States and from civil society. There is a need for concrete actions, for clear commitments, to make better use of the range of legal and financial instruments available in order to achieve a breakthrough. I will not speak for long on this, because my colleague, Mr Andor, is responsible for this dossier, but the Europe 2020 strategy leads to a new path for persistent economic and social actions for those who are marginalised and we know that poverty is a very big problem in Europe’s largest minority. Here, determined action is needed both at national and EU level.
The Commission also considers that it is very important to learn from the lessons of the past and to make sure that the efforts of all stakeholders, at all levels from the EU down to the local level, are very well coordinated. For this coordination work, we do have the European platform for Roma inclusion, which is a unique mechanism for involving the stakeholders. I think it would be important to reinforce the role of this platform in the future.
I also heard with great interest Parliament’s proposal to have a national contact point and we will consider this when we prepare the EU framework. I would also like to assure you that in drawing up the framework, the Commission will pay special attention to the need to monitor developments and follow the process and the progress on the ground, and here I appeal to Parliament. This must not be a case of a very good report by Parliament and then an interesting framework from the European Union; this must be a work in progress and a measured work in progress, a monitored work in progress, so that we can see where we are going in future and, in this regard, we will continue to work closely with the Member States and with this Parliament, as well as with all the stakeholders."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples