World Roma Day is observed by the international community on April 8. On the eve of the holiday, Slovak MEP Lucia Duris Nicholsonova initiated a debate on the topic of Roma settlements across the Union. As she stated in the European Parliament, the European Union cannot talk about building a social Europe while children in Roma settlements are dying of malnutrition and respiratory diseases. Duris Nicholsonova warned that the EU is failing to address the problems in Roma settlements due to an absolute lack of political will among member states to tackle the situation.
"The EU is adopting strategies and creating financial reserves, but the governments of member states are completely oblivious to this. It's not only the Roma in these settlements who are suffering, but also the non-Roma living near them," she said, adding that during a recent visit by an EP delegation to Roma settlements in Slovakia, the MEPs witnessed young children who were either drugged, hungry or cold, meaning that nothing has changed in recent years despite all the millions of euros from EU funds allocated to improve their conditions.
Remarking on the more unsavoury examples of what the delegation had witnessed in Slovakia, the MEP claimed that the same can be observed in Roma settlements in Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
"These are millions of people, Europeans, whose living conditions are incompatible with what we here in the Brussels bubble call the building of a social Europe," stressed Duris Nicholsonova.
In her opinion, this is a clear example of a permanent disregard for fundamental human rights and the rule of law, not only of the Roma in the settlements, but also of the people living in their vicinity. She claimed that strategies on paper do not work in practice. "I ask myself, where did all those billions of euros from EU funds go when there are no sewers in these settlements and people there are wading ankle-deep in their own excrement in the rain?" she asked.
The MEP recalled that policies aimed at the inclusion of Roma from segregated settlements are failing mainly due to political indifference and the reluctance of EU governments. She added that the implementation of meaningful projects on access to housing, access to nurseries and quality education, access to the labour market, as well as social inclusion projects at the national level should be one of the conditions for further access to EU funds for member countries, as these are fundamental human rights, and as such are a pillar of the rule of law.
Source: TASR
