ROMAS : The First Minority in Europe

Back to the roots of a landless people

10 million Europeans live on the margin. How are these people, who partain to a continent but not to any country, to be integrated ? The Council of Europe and the EU have started to become interested in this question.

Translated by Jennifer DINSDALE and Emilie DANEL

The Roma Population, also called « Gypsies » and « Travellers », constitute the first ethnic minority in Europe, with 10 million Roma from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains, 6,5 million of them livinge in Central and Eastern Europe. They represent more than 5 % of the population in some countries, with a record 10 % in Slovakia and Romania. With the CEEC membership, and the planned accession of Romania and Bulgaria, the issue of integration or exclusion of the Roma population, which had already drawn the attention of the Council of Europe, has become a burning issue for the European Union, face to face with its objective of a democratic society.

The Roma are the most ancient minority in Europe. Originally from India, they are said to have arrived in Central Europe around the 12th century. Despite their long history, the Roma remain largely unknown and are victims of rejection by local populations, the non-Roma, whom they call “Gadje.”

From the beginning, the Roma have had the image of prompt craftsmen, traders, artists, independents and multitask workers. These practices have always had economical advantages, as they have been able to answer the demands of a widespread sedentary population.

Table : Roma population in Europe and the Middle East (Source : Eliznik)

Exclusion For a long time, the Roma remained travellers, but from the 20th century on, the cultural gap deepened progressively and a climate of exclusion drew itself to a climax with the extermination of theRoma by the Nazis during World War II , when the Nazis killed 600 000 of them. The situation calmed down later with the domination of the Soviet Empire in Central and Eastern Europe, whose communist industrialisation policy, in need of a cheap working force, absorbed and settled a big part of the Roma people in these regions. At the beginning of the 90s, the exclusion phenomenon started again with the development of a xenophobic discourse and the awakening of the Roma identity.

The major issue remains exclusion, fed by both Roma themselves and the local populations. Roma represent a social, linguistic and sometimes religious minority, entertaining their status of excluded people by developing collective practices and mistrusting the outside world. They protect their collective identity by staying among themselves, allowing marriage between Roma only, and rejecting the education systems of the « Gadj e ». The economic situation of Roma is catastrophic. “Between 60 and 80% of Hungarian Roma old enough to work are unemployed. More than 60% of the Romanian Roma are living below the local poverty line. 80% of them are said to have no qualifications. In some communities in the South and East of Slovakia, all Roma adults are said to be deprived of any resources. In Great Britain, 10% to 20% of travellers are said to be living in utter destitution, whereas 70% to 80% of Roma living in French cities are said to benefit from the RMI (Minimum Revenue) (A. REYNIERS, « Les Roms d’Europe entre exclusion et intégration », Liberté, may 2005). Other issues should also be mentioned, such asthe sanitary and hygiene problems that are deepening the gap existing within a society, apparently indifferent to the problem that appears to totally ignore this population, discarded to the bottom of the social scale andout of the march of progress.

What is the solution ? This is a difficult question to answer, as the Roma population is very diverse, and some of them have become sedentary, while others remain travellers. What approach should be taken : should a national minority be acknowledged or a nation without a land ? Is there a path towards political independence or towards a cooperation with the non-Roma ? Do they have to embrace progress and reach the level of modern societies, or should they stick to the tradition they have always followed ? The challenge for politicians is to combine modernity and tradition, integration and independence, national and international context. There is no doubt that to deal with this complex programme, one should start by dealing with the emblematic Roma identity. This identity is strong and could be used to gather the communities around a common objective of adaptation to modern society, without discussing integration yet … . But face to face with a society which neglects them, their identity quest is sometimes closer to spiritual, religious, evangelist or charismatic affirmations, which makes the issue difficult to tackle.

European initiatives Regarding the Roma issue, the European Union stays truthful to its ideals of minority protection, fighting against racism, intolerance, and against social exclusion. The EU works in collaboration with the Council of Europe which set up a committee of experts on Roma and travellers. This committee follows the guidelines written in the Convention for the Protection of Minorities. European initiatives are concentrated at the European Commission, in D.G. Employment and Social Affairs, D.G. Enlargement, and D.G. External Affairs. D.G. Employment and Social Affairs is currently developing a project against discrimination through three transnational programmes managed by the organisations Gitanos, the Berlin Institute and the Union for Education (Education international ?). A training programme for Roma has been in place since 2005. A report on Roma in the enlarged European Union, written in 2004, expresses recommendations in the areas of housing, education, employment, and healthcare. Concerning Social Affairs, the D.G. collaborates with the European Roma Information Office (ERIO) on the topic of violation of human rights for Roma.

Concerning the future enlargement of Bulgaria and Romania, the follow-up planned during the negotiations also applies to Roma people,and will continue until the accession. 2.200.000,00 Euro is currently allocated to Bulgaria in the frame of the PHARE programme to fund projects helping disadvantaged minorities. 9 million Euro will be allocated to projects related to healthcare, education and public services dealing specifically with Roma. 30 million Euro is available for projects towards ethnic minorities. Among the planned activities, there is, for instance, an awareness raising project on Roma and a project in favour of high quality education dedicated to this community.

D.G. External Affairs is moving its priority on Roma people in Ukraine and Moldavia. However, the D.G. is dealing with violation of human rights in general, so the resources available for the issues related to the Roma are limited.

Inclusion of Romas In addition to the initiatives of the European Union and the Council of Europe, an important programme « decade of Roma inclusion » must be underlined. This programme is a regional initiative to bridge the gap between the Roma and the non-Roma. This initiative is supported by the World Bank, the OSCE, the European Union and the Open Society Institute. It covers four areas : education, employment, housing and healthcare, and is based on action plans that governments are required to implement in the next decade. A suggestion has been madeto set up the secretariat in Budapest or in Bucarest, in order to make it international.

There are plenty of initiatives around the Roma community, but the problem of control over good implementation and follow up of these programmes must be tackled. These issues are complex in regards to the Roma, mainly because of their lack of cooperation and their lack of training to manage the help that is available to them. Perhaps we are still at the stage of collecting data, and we have justbegun to realise the dimension of the problem of rejection the Roma are faced with ? Again the European Union appears to be at the core of initiatives dealing with the Roma issue, between political, economical, social and ethnic considerations.

Illustration : Flag of the division « Roma and travellers » of the Council of Europe, inspired by the symbol of the Roma Community (cart wheel)

Crédits cartographiques et photographiques :

O Vurdon : http://www.vurdon.it

Eliznik : http://www.eliznik.org.uk

Encyclopédie multimédia de la Shoah : http://memorial-wlc.recette.lbn.fr/article.php ?lang=fr&am...

Nigel Dickinson : http://nigeldickinson.com/gallery/Gypsies

Laroumanie.free.fr : http://laroumanie.free.fr/tourisme/010a/15.html

Antoine Durand : http://www.antoinedurand.canalblog.com/

Ville de Pamiers : http://ville-pamiers.fr/