The EC should act more strictly when member states fail to fulfill their obligations
The EP’s committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) held a joint meeting on the 29th of September. The extraordinary event was held with the attendance of the European commissioners. The goal of the meeting was to have the European Commission inform MEPs as soon as possible about the issued of the Roma minority being recently deported from France.
Viviane REDING, commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, the Vice-President of the EC, presented the opinion of the EC about the recent events and reported that the EC has founded a specialized group on the matter on the 7th of September whose task is to elaborate an integration strategy for the EU largest ethnical minority until April 2011. Besides the issue of integration, the strategy will focus on the elimination of poverty as well.
Cecilia MALMSTRÖM, commissioner for Home
Affairs urged the need for the implementation of integration and social
policy at an EU level. She also told MEPs that her office is preparing a
paper on the integration of Roma people coming from third countries.
László
ANDOR, commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion guided
MEP’s attention to the importance of common responsibility baring by
the member states and reiterated that constructive dialogue and
improvements of actions involving the Roma community itself will
guarantee the success of the integration process.
DAHR’s MEP Csaba Sógor reminded the EC about the dangers of using double standards: „This issue did not start today, nor is it only present in France. Not only the Roma, but EU citizens have also suffered from restriction of their freedom of movement, restrictions in use of their native language, utilization of collective guilt instead of collective rights. My only request to the EC is that it react strictly when EU principles and human rights are not being respected within the EU’s borders.”
The Hungarian MEP from Transylvania called for open debate and accountability of the problems: „Some member states do not have Roma problems or minority issues because their existence is being denied.”
In the closing part of his speech, Csaba Sógor urged the members of the EC to act more strictly when member states fail to fulfill their obligations.
