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Europe's "greatest shame" is not knowing how to protect the Roma, according to Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, in an article published on April 8, International Roma Day. The paper lists the attacks that have targeted the Roma in recent years: "120 attacks have occurred against Roma in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bulgaria between 2008 and 2012." The figures are supplied by the European Roma Rights Centre. “We are talking about armed attacks, criminal arson and fatal armed attacks," stresses Dagens Nyheter, adding that –
The EU must finally implement the large scale action plan designed three years ago. First, it should make sure member states follow the 2000 EU directive banning discrimination. Is it really acceptable that Roma be forcibly removed from city centres to remote, rubbish-filled areas? This is the case in Romania and Italy and it should be investigated by the European Commission.
The EU should require more from the nations that seek to become members. Serbia and other countries of the western Balkans that are waiting to begin negotiations to join must improve the situation regarding their treatment [of Roma] before they can be admitted into the EU. A country that refuses to give Roma citizens an identity card, and therefore deny them the right to full citizenship, should not be admitted into the EU. [...] Of course, each country is responsible for its citizens. This principle is valid also in the EU that is why each member state must treat the Roma in such a manner that they are not chased out of their countries. But the EU is also committed, among other things, to fighting against discrimination, persecution and physical attacks. The EU must prove that all its fine rhetoric about human rights actually means something in practice."
A conversation with investigative reporters Stefano Valentino and Giorgio Michalopoulos, who have dissected the dark underbelly of green finance for Voxeurop and won several awards for their work.
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