EU plan targets Roma discrimination

BRUSSELS — Europe’s treatment of its Roma people has been “inexcusable” over the past decade, a top European Union official said Wednesday as she presented a 10-year plan to improve life for the large ethnic minority.

Around 6 million Roma live in the 27-nation bloc, where the European Commission said 41% experienced discrimination over the past five years and where 85% of Roma children are at risk of poverty compared with 20% of children overall in the EU.

“Simply put, over the last 10 years, we have not done enough to support the Roma population in the EU. This is inexcusable,” EU Vice President Vera Jourova said.

“We cannot accept it,” Jourova said as she presented the plan for the Roma, who are also known as Gypsies and are among the poorest and least educated in central Europe and have been discriminated against for centuries.

Under the plan, EU nations will have to submit national strategies by September 2021 and the European Commission will monitor progress toward the 2030 targets, which center on reducing discrimination, improving jobs access for the Roma, reducing poverty and improving the quality of education for Roma children.

Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli said the plan sought “to tackle the inexcusable discrimination facing far too many today, and also to change our mindsets, to change the stereotypes which we have in our minds when we look at Roma people.”

This year, the coronavirus pandemic has worsened the situation for the Roma.