From 2010 Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion to 2014 Year of European elections
giovedì, March 31st, 2011The full text of the E.M.E.R.G.E. publication can be read here:
European Union between defense of the Treaties and electoral consensus
Exchange of ideas between E.M.E.R.G.E. researchers Elena Kirova and Federica Chiezzi
giovedì, December 9th, 2010
Elena Kirova (Bulgaria): "Sofia is a beautiful city. The streets are often covered with holes (that become craters in the winter months), traffic jams during business hours on Mon-Fri can be real bad, parking spots are a scarce, but what really makes it a horrible experience when driving on the streets of Sofia are the people who stay at the traffic lights waiting for the red signal to ambush your car and racket you for your money.
In this article I’m going to open a topic for a debate on an issue that affects a large percent of the drivers in Europe. It may at first sound insignificant, but as we go further into the issue, I believe we could find some general problems with social integration rooted in the following scenario.
This is how it usually happens:
1. A driver stops at an intersection.
2. A windshield cleaning “professional” comes to offer the service.
3. The driver politely or not so politely declines the service.
4. The cleaning professional performs the service.
5. The driver feeling intimidated and not wanting to enter a confrontation gives a small amount of money in return.
6. Cleaner accepts and repeats.
Many cities are already taking action against what is seen as pure form of racket and exploitation of minors. In Florence it is now illegal to clean the windscreens of cars waiting at traffic lights. The act of Florence city officials was prompted by citizens’ complaints of window-washers "becoming more aggressive, especially to women alone in their cars." The first patrol which resulted in 15 people being charged was led by Florence police Chief Alessandro Bartolini. "There are no more on the streets. Word has got around, apparently," Bartolini said.
The people that are performing this type of cleaning service fall in the poor and socially excluded category. In Bulgaria, the majority of them are Gypsies. For most of them it is their only source of income. If we take this venture out of their hands does it mean that we will exclude them even more from the society and make them poorer?
Federica Chiezzi (Italy): As in Florence, also in Rome, from the 1st of November 2009, window-washers, jugglers and hawkers are strictly forbidden to walk through the city streets and offer any kind of services. The “first citizen” Gianni Alemanno issued and signed new measures to eliminate illegal services performed by those people which can both disturb and bother drivers. Alemanno set the imposition of a fine of 100 euro for those who don’t respect that ordinance.
Towards the social inclusion of Roma people
domenica, October 17th, 2010
"Roma, Gypsies … It is extremely important. I have come to realize that, politically speaking, Romania has made a terrible mistake when it changed the name of this minority from Gypsies into Roma. No one is intentionally supporting the confusion. It was our political decision, but the confusion happens often and at the moment, many of the European citizens are confused whether Roma means all the Romanian people, that is 22 million or just one ethnic group" Traian Basescu told for RRA (Romanian Radio Broadcasting ).
"They have this culture to travel from one place to another. In order to take decisions of financial support of nomads’ integration process, politicians must not be contested by their own folk. It is different when French, Germans, British politicians stated: we have to integrate half a million nomad Gypsies and another where the taxpayer says that we must integrate 22 million Romanians. We are speaking here of an ethnic group and Romania is supporting this group. We cannot condone the French government’s decision,” the head of state added.
“Without deviating from the obligations that Romania has for its citizens, there is a shared European responsibility to resolve the Roma problems” stated Emil Boc in the discussion he had last week with the French Minister for Immigration, Integration and National Identity, Eric Besson and the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Pierre Lellouche.
The case of Romanian care workers living in Italy
giovedì, October 7th, 2010Dora is a Romanian care worker who has a sad story to tell. Thanks to the web archive www.storiemigranti.org we can listen to her voice. When she decided to emigrate to Italy in order to find a job, the help of a cousin was necessary for the placement to be organised. Dora was put in contact with a Sardinian family needing assistance for a very old “grandfather” and then started a regular job as a care worker. When the cousin requested money for the “service”, Dora was happy to have the chance to thank him for such a great opportunity. Unfortunately, these requests did not stop and Dora discovered to be exploited – with violence – by a member of her family. Furthermore, when she started to have a social life and to go out, always in the restricted periods of free time given to a care worker, something new happened. She was accused by her employer to attend the night clubs, “as the Romanian women regularly do”. This was not true. Her short Italian adventure had come to an unpredictable and dramatic end. Dora experienced social exclusions at two levels. At family level, she was exploited as a woman – a hard worker easy to sell and to rob. At social level, she was offended as a member of a national community with a negative reputation in the Italian society. Furthermore, a second victim of social exclusion should be mentioned. The old “grandfather” was suddenly deprived of a person having assisted him with respect and care.
Commissioner Reding announces infringement action against France for a discriminatory application of the Free Movement Directive
venerdì, September 17th, 2010
An extraordinary political conflict between the European Commission and the French Government is taking place in this summer of 2010, European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. On the 14th of September Ms Vivian Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Statement, attacked the Sarkozy government over the mass expulsions of Roma people and accused it of duplicity in its dealings with Brussels. “I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a Member State of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority” said Commissioner Reding. “This is a situation –she added – I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War.”
The reference to deportations in the 1940s facilitated the hard reaction of the French Government. President Sarkozy invited the Commissioner to welcome Roma people in Luxembourg. The comments of Pierre Lellouche, the French European affairs minister, were more articulated. "The tone she took … is not the manner one uses to address a great state like France, which is the mother of human rights" he told French radio. "We are not the naughty pupil of the class whom the teacher tells off and we are not the criminal before the prosecutor."
The point of view of Commissioner Reding is more institutional. After having reminded a contradiction between the political assurances that specific ethnic groups had not been targeted in France and the administrative circular mentioning the Roma people as target group of the expulsions, the Commissioner underlines that “The role of the Commission as guardian of the Treaties is made extremely difficult if we can no longer have confidence in the assurances given by two ministers in a formal meeting with two Commissioners and with around 15 senior officials on the table from both sides.”
Roma expulsion policy of the French Government goes in the opposite direction
lunedì, September 13th, 2010
About 1000 Romanian and Bulgarian Roma people (Gypsies) were expelled from France and around 100 Roma camps were destroyed in the last two months. The most recent expulsion wave to Bulgaria was in the end of August. It was part of the French campaign of clearing illegal Roma camps, a phase of a security crackdown announced by the French president Mr. Sarkozy. It is interesting to point out that this year is the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. So is this the way to cope with one of the most marginalized minority groups in Europe?
The Vatican and the UN criticized France about the actions it took. The EU parliament started discussions on the Roma issue on 06.09.2010. The European Commission also expressed its criticism regarding the French initiative.
The spokesperson of the Commission, Michele Cercone said that the Commission has already taken actions for the integration of the ethnical minorities in the EU member states: “The European Commission is bound by the serious task of improving the Roma situation. We have to make sure that all member states abide by the anti-discrimination legislation.”
The risk of social exclusion of Roma minority
venerdì, September 10th, 2010
The PDL (Democratic Liberal Party) deputy Adrian Gurzău announced he will initiate a law to prohibit the use of the name Rom instead of Gypsy arguing that the appellation Rom harms the Romanians abroad.
«Regarding the name of Rom, I will propose in the Romanian Parliament a law to forbid the use of the appellation Rom instead of Gypsy, in order to remove confusion between the two names (Rom and Romanian), confusion which has often brought harm to Romanians abroad », says a press release of the deputy.
Gurzău argues that the name Rom is a « conventional one, recently established and has no historical argumentation».
«The other European nations call the Roma population Gypsies (using words having the same root with Gypsy: Gitan (fr.) Gipsy (en.), Gitano (sp.), Tiganski (bg.), Tîgan (rus.), Zigeuner (ger.) etc. In linguistic formulas of their traditional culture the term Rom « does not exist », says the PDL deputy, arguing that even « the choice of the name Rom only in the case of the Gypsies in Romania is deliberately chosen to leave room for confusion» .
«I must clearly specify that I make this legislative proposal as a mean of protection for the Romanians who could be affected by ill-treatment and discrimination in the countries hostile to Gypsies, unfairly. As a Romanian deputy I consider it is my duty to defend the Romanians against possible discrimination, especially when history says we are right », is also mentioned in Gurzău’s press release.
People with disabilities are full citizens who have equal rights, are entitled to dignity, equal treatment, independent living and full participation in society as non – disabled people. Despite equal rights for non – disabled people, they have more difficulty in finding a job with a decent income. Reaching a good level of education is another problem they have to face; even when they reach high education studies they are much less employed in high level jobs. People with disabilities represent one sixth of the overall EU working population but their employment rate is comparatively low.
2003 was the European Year of People with Disabilities and one of the main objectives was achieving equal rights for people with disabilities and since this year the Commission’s disability strategy has been to make equal opportunities a reality. The Commission’s strategy is to integrate the disability issues in all UE policies: this is made since 2003 through the EU Disability action plan (DAP), a “mainstreaming” strategy. The DAP is developed in 2 years phases. Each phase is focused on one special issue – the 2008-2009 DAP focus is accessibility. The Commission is preparing the new strategy for 2010-20201.
The aim of DAP strategy for 2003-2010 was to enable disabled people to play an active role in society, improving employment and education prospect to increase their access to goods and services. Member States design their own strategy for the inclusion of disabled people in the labour market, in educational initiatives and in all other initiatives that can help disabled people living independently, get transportation, access to information, access to buildings and infrastructures. European Union is committed to respect the Human Rights of all people, but the fundamental rights of millions of disabled people (disabled people in the EU are 65 million) are regularly violated in many Member States2.
Included in the country partnership and summing 58.5 million dollars, borrowed by the Romanian Government from the World Bank to meet the commitments of the (JIM) Joint Inclusion Memorandum signed by the Romanian Government with the European Union in June 2005, the social inclusion program stipulates the improvement of living conditions and social inclusion for some of the most disadvantaged population groups, including Roma minority.
Project Description
The project aims to improve living conditions and social inclusion of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people from Romania and has four components.
1. Priority intervention program summing 11 million Euros, will be implemented by the RSDF (Romanian Social Development Fund) in collaboration with the National Agency for the Roma, which will award grants to fund small projects in poor Roma localities in order to improve living conditions and social inclusion of Roma population from about 100 (one hundred) poor localities by: (i) the financing of sub-projects of priority interventions granted awarded under competitive conditions, (ii) the promotion, information and education campaigns and by monitoring the evaluation activities, as well as by training the local authorities, the community groups and NGOs, (iii) by providing assistance for the development of the capacity at the level of the communities, through preparation, facilitation, evaluation and supervision of priority intervention sub-projects and by providing training and instruction in this regard, including training granted by RSDF, and (iv) by providing technical assistance to poor Roma communities to prepare their projects funded from EU funds.
RO The employment and social committee at the EP votes on the draft proposal in June
venerdì, May 7th, 2010
In March 2010, members of the European Parliament, after discussions with employers’ and workers’ organizations agreed on studying the possible impact of the introduction of uniform minimum income level across the EU. The Employment and Social Committee at the European Parliament is going to vote on the draft proposal in June. In case this proposal is approved, it means that a new EU Directive will be developed which will guarantee that Marco from Italy, Bogdan from Romania and Ivan from Bulgaria will get the same minimum salary, in relative terms. Will this really be the end of poverty across Europe?
The EU is often perceived by EU citizens as a distant structure that does not have an impact on their daily lives. Many people, especially in new member-states, are not aware of the activities of the European Commission and Parliament and do not understand how the actions of EU institutions can improve their lifestyles. The introduction of a Directive establishing a minimum income would help fill in the gap. It will demonstrate a strong political commitment of the EU to social cohesion. Such a measure would also give a tangible meaning and content to the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion, apart from awareness-raising campaigns. It will be a more “visible” step towards the achievement of the “Europe 2020” Strategy document, aiming at removing the risk of poverty for 20 million people in EU and also for better protection of fundamental human rights.