16 January 2012 

Eurodiaconia together with our ecumenical partner CCME (the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe) is currently carrying out a mapping exercise of its members work with Roma.  We hope that through this joint activity we will have a greater understanding of the contribution of both the churches and diaconal organisations to Roma inclusion in Europe. If you are responsible for Roma issues in your organisation, please complete the survey found below by 15 February and send to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Roma Maping Survey 

8 December 2011

On 17 and 18 November, the annual meeting of the European Platform for Roma Inclusion was held in Brussels. During the meeting a session was held on making the best use of EU funds with the objective to explore how the EU funds such as the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund may be mobilised to support national Roma integration strategies.

Parallel workshops were also held for different sectors to discuss the EU Framework. One workshop was held to provide Member States with the possibility to exchange on their challenges and successes in preparing national Roma integration strategies. Some of the key challenges the member states mentioned were financial resources to implement the strategies, monitoring, and administrative capacity at local level. 

At a parallel workshop civil society representatives met stressing the need for the European Commission to take a zero-tolerance to anti-gypsyism and to set clear benchmarks and annual reports should be submitted that allow comparability between the member states. They also highlighted the lack of financial resources for civil society organisations working with Roma.

And in a third workshop, international organisations and networks of public bodies discussed their contribution to the EU Framework. They concluded that we need to move beyond a project approach to a systematic one, and stressed that it is a question of human rights and that member states have the obligation to stop direct or indirect discrimination of Roma. 

The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) raised the question of how the EU intends to measure the impact of policies for Roma integration, and about a territorial approach to setting targets. They also recommended that direct links are made to the NRPs (National Reform Programmes). They also recommended that ownership of Roma people is very important in the implementation of the strategies.

It was noted that although an EU Framework was being discussed, the Framework clearly addresses countries beyond the EU borders and therefore monitoring of the strategy will be done in DG Enlargement for those countries.

The Danish government representative also said during the meeting that they will be following up the EU Framework during the Danish Presidency which starts on 1st January 2012. The first evaluation of the national strategies will happen in spring 2012 before the Platform meets again.