By Martin Banks - 16th September 2008
It is all too clear that racism and fascist sympathies are alive and well in 21st century western Europe
UK citizen Peter Hudson, who with his brother Richard, has started a petition to campaign for the rights of Roma people
A group of MEPs has called on the EU to stand up to discriminatory treatment of Roma people and controversial new fingerprinting measures by the Italian government.
British members Arlene McCarthy and Michael Cashman, and Hungarian Socialist Katalin Lèvai, have written to commission president José Manuel Barroso calling for an end to “infringements” of the human rights of Europe’s Roma population.
In particular, they are incensed about the fingerprinting of Roma people in Italy, a recently introduced measure by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The petition was the initiative of UK brothers Peter and Richard Hudson, and has been signed by over 2000 EU citizens across Europe.
The move comes on the eve of the first ever EU Roma summit, which opened in Brussels on Tuesday.
The summit, attended by Barroso and several EU commissioners, aims to create a better understanding of Roma people, the biggest minority group in Europe.
Speaking ahead of the event, McCarthy said “The petition shows the deep concern of ordinary people across Europe on this issue. They have been moved to call for a halt to the unacceptable treatment of Roma in Italy, with hundreds of names collected by concerned citizens in just a few weeks.”
She added, “We are calling on the commission to look again at this issue and I hope when Barroso addresses the summit today he will acknowledge the concern of Europe’s citizens that the rights of a minority are under assault.”
Peter Hudson said “We felt compelled to launch a campaign to heighten awareness of the shameful actions being perpetrated by the Italian government against Italy’s Roma communities.
“We were appalled at actions such as fingerprinting of Roma, by news stories of outbursts of racist violence against Roma and by the apparent implicit sanctioning of such violence by Italian officials – all of which draw parallels with the 1930s.
“But above all, we were disturbed by the apparent apathy displayed by local Italian beachgoers to the drowning of two young Roma girls. It is all too clear that racism and fascist sympathies are alive and well in 21st century western Europe.”
His comments are echoed by Mohammed Aziz, president of the Brussels-based European Network Against Racism, who said, “The summit must not result in more empty words.
“Real action and leadership are urgently needed in order to secure real change.”
The EU Roma Policy Coalition (ERPC) agrees, and urges the EU to devise a long-term strategy to “respect and protect” the fundamental rights of Roma people.
The NGOs have called on the summit to “commit to common standards and targets”, paving the way for national action plans.
“It is important to sit down and discuss policies that work, but what we need is an EU-led proactive engagement that translates discussions into concrete steps for action. Enough time has passed, there needs to be a framework with objectives and deadlines,” said an ERPC spokesman.
Speaking at today's summit at the commission's Charlemagne building commission president José Manuel Barroso said the "poverty, social exclusion and discrimination" facing Roma people was "simply not acceptable."
He added, "Let us be frank, there is no place for a laissez-faire or business-as-usual approach. Every man, woman and child has the right to live free from discrimination and persecution.
"We must reach out to the Roma and we need more than just non-discrimination. These people have been so excluded that they are not starting from the same point like most other citizens.
"Inclusion of Roma is a joint responsibility of the EU and member states but we must avoid giving the impression that the dramatic situation of the Roma can be solved from Brussels. What is needed is the political will to use the available instruments in favour of the Roma".
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