Roma Rights 2013. December [antikvár]

NATIONAL ROMA INTEGRATION STRATEGIES: WHAT NEXT? Foreword DR MARTIN KOVATS' There was a certain inevitability about the arrival of the EU's Roma integration framework in 2011. Since the eastward enlargement of the Union took place, pressure had been mounting from Roma organisations and activists for an EU Roma policy. More practicallv, die fact that so many Roma people had become EU citizens brought into die Union the politics of Roma in accession states. The struggle against poverty and discrimination and for cultural recognition and ethnic status is now an integrál part of Europe's politics. European integration has helped to add a further dimension to the politics of Roma: migration within the EU. Following the Italian 'Nomád Emergency', the destruction of camps in Francé meant that Roma would inevitably become an item on the EU's agenda. At the same time, die Framework follows die familiar approach of requiring Member States to set out their commitments on Roma in writing. The Framework has been criticised for its 'weakness' and accused of being unlikely to have much effect. However, it will certainly be influential. It requires all 28 EU states to produce strategies to guide national and local policy and practice. Targeted attention and resources aim to make a 'tangible difference' to the lives of disadvantaged Roma people. What will certainly happen is that Roma will be subjected to broader and more detailed examination, monitoring and evaluation than ever before. Far more information will be produced and made public about Roma - about how many of them there are, where they live, what they want or need, how much money is being spent on them and so on. More information means more perspectives and opinions. The Roma discourse is growing. The essays in this series exemplify the diversity of the Roma discourse. All of them discuss the EU Roma framework, but from different perspectives - national, thematic or institutional. Joanna Kostka examines the Polish national strategy and questions what has been learned from previous Roma integration initiatives. Thomas Acton, Andrew Ryder and lulius Rostás call for greater support to be given for grass roots Roma involvement in projects and programmes, while Enikő Vincze argues the need for greater consideration to be given to the role of Roma women. Belén Sánchez-Rubio and Caroüna Fernández Díez provide an overview of the European Roma Policy Coalition's assessment of national Roma strategies, while the relationship between the Roma Decade and the EU's Roma framework is discussed by Aleksandra Bojadjieva. Bemard Rorke critically analyses the overall approach of the Framework and questions how much progress can be made without more effective action to counter discriminatory attitudes and practices, while the importance of piacing the struggle against discrimination at the heart of Roma initiatives is emphasised by Dezideriu Gergely. To a greater or lesser extent, each of the essays touches upon two themes which are emerging as focal points for assessment of Roma policies as a whole and the EU framework in particular. First, there is the domination of the social policy paradigm mobilised to tackle manifestations of inequality, poverty, segregation and other social or economic 'problems'. While acknowledging the need for effective interventions, this way of framing the issues alsó appears to place the primary responsibility for 'integration' on disadvantaged Roma people themselves. While personal choice can never be entirely disregarded, systemic and structural factors alsó need to be properly taken into account if policy goals, no matter how vaguely defined, are to be met. This requires the Roma discourse to be understood in relation to wider political, economic, social and cultural contexts and trends, enabling Roma people, identity and policy to be seen as an integrál part of contemporary local, national and European politics and society. The other important theme addressed by these essays is the relatively limited role Roma people have played in the development of policy initiatives nominally designed to help them. How Roma people and their representatives can assert their interests in the design, implementation,