The integration of Europe's Roma minority has gained momentum in recent years, Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog told a summit meeting in Brussels on Friday. Closing the gap between the Roma and mainstream society requires new solutions, achieved through "a straightforward approach which squares up to reality," the Minister added.
In his address, the minister said "the situation should be seen as neither too dark nor too rosy". According to Zoltán Balog, talking about the occurrence of 2008 and 2009, when several ethnic Roma has been killed, the state had drawn conclusions and realised the importance of a Roma strategy. Hungary had passed a law against paramilitary groups associated with anti-minority attitudes.
Ethnic Hungarian MEP from Slovakia Edit Bauer said that integration was impossible unless the Roma themselves were involved in the process and site activities and support for families should be increased. Greater focus should be given to children, because many of them drop out of primary school, making it difficult for them to get proper jobs later, she said.
Vice-President of the European Commission Viviane Reding said that children are the "adults of the future" and if their problems are left unresolved, those problems will recur. She announced that the European Commission was launching a website through which municipalities can obtain information about available community funds.
(Ministry of Human Resources)
