How Does the EU Matter for the Roma?

Abstract

Perhaps more than any other minority group in Europe, the Roma have tried to reach beyond the boundaries of the national state to change local realities of marginalization. Roma activists have counted on the support of the EU to turn around the negligent attitudes of national governments. The further development of an EU framework that stimulates national states to design and implement social policies that protect Roma is no doubt necessary, but it may not be enough. In order to have real impact, the EU needs to address key obstacles of the area of social policy and human rights protection more broadly.

Notes

^1. In this article I define Roma activism as any activity directed toward policy actors in the name of the Roma (and therefore in the name of any population that is broadly considered to be included under that label) and seeks to improve the socioeconomic and/or political situation of this population. I fully realize that this means I am using the term “Roma” primarily as a political label—one promoted by many but not all activists—and not as a term to indicate ethnic or cultural belonging or affiliation; the name has been introduced to tackle the problems associated with other designations, which often carry derogatory connotations (e.g. “Gypsies”) (Stewart 2013). Among scholars and activists alike, such deliberate political usage of the term Roma is not uncontroversial (see, e.g., Stewart 2010; Gheorghe 1991; Matras 2012), but nevertheless widespread.

^2. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has launched a multi-annual research program specifically devoted to the topic of the Roma. Collaboration with Roma themselves is part of the research effort in the form of “participatory action research, which means researchers will work in local communities, engaging directly with Roma and non-Roma, and local authorities” (http://fra.europa.eu/en/project/2013/multi-annual-roma-programme).

^3. In 2007, the Czech Republic was convicted for this type of discrimination in a landmark judgment (D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic) of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), but since then matters have remained largely unchanged. In 2012, an ODIHR/OSCE field mission concluded that “the steps taken by the Czech Government have not ‘put an end’ to the practice the ECtHR ruled a violation of the Convention; Roma children are still overrepresented in segregated educational arrangements for children with special educational needs” (ODIHR 2012, 5). In 2015, the Council of Europe published findings from new research in the Czech Republic that showed that “Although the total number of pupils (Roma and non-Roma) in special schools or classes has dropped, year-on-year, from 17,755 in 2008 to 10,695 in 2014, the proportion of Roma pupils in such institutions increased from 28.2% (previous year) to 32.4% (school year 2014/2015)” (Council of Europe 2015).