[Versió no oficial en català / Unofficial version in Catalan]

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE ON THE ‘INTEGRATION OF MINORITIES —ROMA’
(2009/C 27/20)

On 27 October 2006 the European Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the

Integration of minorities — Roma.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 10 June 2008. The rapporteur was Ms Sigmund and the co-rapporteur was Ms Sharma.

At its 446th plenary session, held on 9 and 10 July 2008 (meeting of 9 July 2008), the European Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 130 votes to 4, with 10 abstentions.

Recommendations

The radical shift that is needed in relations between minorities1, especially the Roma, and the majority population, including their integration and a change in their socio-economic position, is a long term process that nevertheless requires a ‘two track’ approach:

a) on a short term basis, dealing with those issues, which need immediate emergency action, such as for example, adopting legislation in Member States to make enforceable and effective the European antidiscrimination legislation which defends the rights of citizens.

b) by initiating a long-term process that will take decades, in particular at the levels of the Member States and/or the regional and local level, such as for example the improvement of the schooling of the children and of the young Roma girls and men, the promotion of the Roma language and culture etc.

[...]

2.2.1 The Roma and their Language

Romani is an Indo-European language spoken in numerous forms in Europe's various Roma communities, Romani variants/dialects exist; nevertheless a large common vocabulary is understood by most of Roma throughout Europe. Romani is even the mother tongue in many communities. An exception is those countries, such as Spain, for instance, where the language was banned and has been partially lost. Recognising the importance of Romani, as well as standardising and teaching it, is of the utmost importance

both within and outside the minority. Apart from the Paris Institut des langues et des civilisations orientales, only the foreign languages faculty of Bucharest university has a lectureship in the language. Work is also conducted on a local Roma dialect at Prague's Charles University and Eötvös University in Budapest has an initiative for a language course under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Research is also being conducted in the University of Manchester.

A common language fashions a common identity. The promotion of their language is of fundamental importance, therefore, for the social recognition and cultural identity of the Roma.

For this reason, the Committee calls for the establishment of a Jean Monnet chair of Romani and Roma culture.

[...]

3.1. 4. Adulthood

[...]

3.1.4.2 Education is one of the most fundamental investments in the future. The high illiteracy rate and the low level of Roma education generally bode ill for the future. Member States need to ensure their education systems do not discriminate against Roma, and additionally allow for adult programmes towards literacy, numeracy and life long learning.

It is inordinately difficult for Roma to reach higher levels of education and get good vocational training. As well as efforts to integrate them into the normal education and training system, Member States should also make use of models that recognise informally acquired skills and be much more generous in recognising qualifications attained outside the country.

The integrated language education policy introduced by the Commission, one of whose aims is to promote the learning of minority languages, should also be enlisted to benefit the Roma.

[...]

4.4 The Council of Europe and OSCE

Both organisations have contributed in numerous areas to improving the situation and are continuing their work through measures specially targeted at Roma. Of particular importance for the protection of minorities (and therefore the Roma) is the CoE Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The Dosta! Campaign also is an excellent positive example to raise awareness among the majority population about prejudices and negative stereotypes.

Text íntegre en anglès / Full text in English
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:027:0088:0094:EN:PDF
[Consulta: 20 desembre 2009 / Accessed 20 December 2009]