Timelines

Although the Roma community is the largest ethnic minority in Europe with 10-12 million people in Europe and around 5-6 million people in the European Union, the situation of the Roma has only been on the political agenda of the European Union since September 2008. The trigger for the Roma conference, which was convened for the first time, was the report “Community instruments and measures for the integration of the Roma” presented by the EU Commission. It explains that the Roma community in Europe is the ethnic group most exposed to everyday and institutional discrimination and social exclusion. The necessary legal prerequisites for better integration of the Roma and for combating discrimination are in place, but these are not sufficiently implemented by the Member States. The purpose of the summit is to develop strategies to improve the situation of the Roma community in Europe. Following the first summit, observers report that its implementation had many shortcomings. Interpreters were hired for many European languages, but not for Romani, the language of the Sinti and Roma. There were also hardly any representatives of self-organized Roma and Sinti organizations among the speakers, and further action measures remained rather vague and inconclusive. The Roma Summit has been held every two years since 2008.