Plan to improve the situation of Roma and other minorities in the EU

12.12.2008

WRITTEN QUESTION P-6872/08
by Åsa Westlund (PSE)
to the Commission

Today, in 2008, there are still people living in wretched conditions all over Europe. In Italy, generations of Roma have been totally excluded from society and children and old people live in camps which cannot be regarded as fit for human habitation. Some camps, for example, lack basic necessities, such as water and sewerage. Many Roma do not even have the right to citizenship of the country in which they were born and grew up.

The situation of Roma and other minorities is unacceptable in several of the EU's Member States. At the same time, Europe is meant to be a force for and an example of human rights in the world. The situation also constitutes a terrible waste of human resources. The EU cannot afford to exclude people in this way.

Is it not time that the Commission put forward a plan to work together with the Member States to eradicate this poverty and discrimination and at the same time restore human rights on our continent?

OJ C 316, 23/12/2009