Based on the background paper for the Roma Diplomacy Conference (see www.diplomacy.edu/Roma)

Reasons and Solutions for the Inclusion of Roma within European Institutions 

By Valeriu Nicolae

Considering the General Recommendation 27 of the UN which explicitly says :

one can wonder how this never seem to apply to EU and International Organisations which in fact represent the same states..

This paper presents a case study of the existing situation regarding employment, representation, ownership and visibility of Roma within the European Institutions, focusing on the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of Europe. The paper presents relevant official documents, reasons for, and concrete ways to employ Roma within these organisations.

Facts

Of all European ethnic groups, Roma are the worst represented in the European Intergovernmental Institutions, which employ staff based, roughly, on a quota system linked to nationality. The European Parliament is the only European institution which claims to employ people based on another principle, that of language. However, in practice,[1] Parliament employees represent a good balance of EU nationalities and employment practices show a serious effort to maintain this representation.  

We should keep the principle of employment based on language in mind, however. In Europe at least five times more people speak Romani than, for example, Maltese.

The number of Roma in Europe is estimated to be between 10 to 15 million people. Currently, no European institution employs Roma. In fact, the worst exclusion faced by Roma in employment is within those institutions. This is particularly visible when we take into account the efforts made to include all the other European ethnic minorities,

The overwhelming majority of states with a Roma minority face significant problems with anti-Gypsyism, which is reflected in a false but often de facto dichotomy: national citizen vs. Roma, which has as a result systemic discrimination. This hinders the access of Roma to positions allocated for their nationality in European institutions. The systemic discrimination is also strongly reflected in the fact that no Roma work in the foreign ministries or embassies of any European country.

Nonetheless, all of the European institutions advocate concrete measures for reducing existing inequalities between Roma and majority populations in Europe .

European Commission, European Parliament and Council of Europe – short overview of official documents linked to employment in the case of Roma

The European Comission’s June 2005 Proposal for a Decision on the Year of Equal Opportunities[2] underlines the fact that Roma are the “most disadvantaged ethnic minority group in Europe .” It describes the “significant barriers in employment and education” they face. The Communication further states that “disadvantages experienced by some communities, e.g., the Roma are so wide-scale and embedded in the structure of society that positive action may be necessary to remedy the nature of their exclusion.”

Article 3(2) of the EU Treaty requires the Community to aim to eliminate inequalities and actively to promote equality between men and women in all its activities and thus ensure the integration of the dimension of equality between men and women in all Community policies. In addition, existing anti-discrimination Directives (2000/43 and 2000/78) and Article 29 of the EU Treaty urge Member States to undertake common action towards the prevention and elimination of racism and xenophobia. These items, in combination, should be sufficient to guarantee the elimination of inequalities and actively promote equality for Roma, and particularly Roma women.

The Gender Equality Unit, according to the European Commission website, “keeps an eye on how the Commission itself practices what it preaches about equal opportunities in terms of recruiting and promoting its own personnel.”

Currently, no Roma women are employed, or have been employed, within the European Commission. Roma are the only European ethnic group residing within the EU which is not represented in the European Commission.

The April 28, 2005 European Parliament Resolution on the Situation of Roma in the European Union[3] suggests, in its introduction, that “…on average Roma communities face unacceptably high levels of unemployment, so that specific measures are required to facilitate access to jobs.” Recommendation 23 of the resolution “Supports the continuing moves within the EU institutions towards incorporating the Roma-to-Roma approach, as developed by the OSCE, in the future hiring of staff for Roma - as well as non-Roma-related vacancies.”

In May 2005, the Council of Europe published a thematic report[4] on the situation of Roma: “It is moreover important that temporary measures be adopted to promote the recruitment of the Roma in the labour market, both in the private and public sectors…” One of the recommendations of the chapter dealing with employment is that “Special measures should be taken to promote the recruitment of Roma particularly within public administration.”

European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe – Concrete Ways to Employ Roma within the European Institutions

I.                   Establishing Roma Concourse (competitions) for permanent and temporary positions in the European Parliament, European Commission and Council of Europe

This should be a temporary measure used until a representative proportion of Roma is reached within these institutions.

Rationale

a. Problems related to the lack of participation

The lack of effective Roma participation in European Institutions strongly affects Roma visibility in Europe and sends blunt and very negative signals to the Roma communities. It helps, both directly and indirectly, to perpetrate the social stigma associated with the Roma identity. It hinders any sense of ownership and participation among Roma, related to the activities of those institutions.

b. Arguments for employing Roma within the European institutions

Employing Roma within European institutions would:

• greatly increase the level of expertise on Roma-related issues with these institutions, a much needed step;

• establish reliable communication bridges between these institutions and Roma communities;

• show concrete steps, rather than just talk, towards the principle of diversity in employment for the most visible European institutions;

• signal and set an example for national governments and private companies;

• raise awareness about Roma, ethnic minorities, diversity and multiculturalism in general in a highly effective way, as the media and public are more interested in role models than policies and declarations;

• provide employment and stimulate competition for educated and qualified Roma;

• help bring about a change in attitude among the many successful Roma who currently deny their Roma identity, diminishing the existing stigma associated with the Roma identity;

• offer a concrete solution to the often mentioned need for positive role models for Roma.

c. Examination of arguments against Roma targeted employment

The following arguments against Roma targeted employment have been mentioned to the author during numerous meetings with people working in these institutions.

1. Unfair competition – discrimination against the majority population. This often used argument is in reality an unfounded emotional reaction.[5] In fact, reports of European institutions clearly identify the extreme discrimination Roma face and recommend action to reduce existing inequalities between the majority populations and Roma minority. No one complains (nor should they), for example, about preferential employment for Cypriot citizens, despite the fact that they are considered, and identify themselves as, ethnic Greeks or Turks, and the fact that Cyprus has a population around 20 times smaller than the estimated number of Roma in Europe.

2. Existing legislation which prevents affirmative action. None of the institutions mentioned restrict affirmative action, and in fact, as seen at the beginning of this paper, all actually encourage it. In addition, existing rules of employment are often bent and can be reviewed. A series of documented loops exist in the employment rules of the institutions in question, but these have never been used for Roma.

3. Double opportunities for Roma as both citizens of their countries and as Roma. Many current employees for the European institutions have benefited from similar double opportunities, without comment. For example, a considerable number of employees hold dual citizenships, and therefore have had and used double opportunities. These include a number of Canadian and US citizens who hold dual citizenship with a European country, but have never been employed or even lived in the European country from which their parents immigrated. Another example are ethnic Romanians who hold both Romanian and Moldavian citizenship working in the Council of Europe.

4. Lack of educated and experienced Roma able to work at such levels. It is surprising to hear this claim, considering that none of these institutions has held a real competition to attract Roma employees. In addition, all these institutions have been involved in scandals regarding nepotism in employment and incompetence.

II.                Appointments within the Cabinets of the European Commissioners, MEPs and European Parliament employment

Commissioners’ Cabinets

Rationale

1. Roma expertise is most needed at the level of the Commissioners’ cabinets. The Commissioners have the most significant leverage when it comes to issues related to human rights and equality. Currently, several cabinets are significantly involved with Roma-related issues, namely those of Vladimir Spidla, Jan Figel, Danuta Hubner, Franco Fratini, Ollie Rehn and Manuel Barroso. These cabinets employ around 120 people, all of them appointed by the responsible Commissioner. This is a useful and straighforward opportunity to employ Roma in the European Commission. Cabinets can also employ interns, however none of them have yet employed Roma interns.

2. The imminent enlargement in 2007 or 2008, plus future ones (Turkey, Croatia and Western Balkans) will add at least seven million more Roma to the four to six million already in the Europe Union. Commissioner Ollie Rehn will need to deal extensively with improving the situation of the Roma (considered by the EUMC to be the most discriminated against ethnic group in Europe ).  In order to do this effectively, Commissioners will need to rely on the expertise of an already overstretched team with limited experience in Roma issues. A number of well known Finish Roma activists with excellent experience at the international level could contribute to the activities of the Commissioner.

3. The Commissioners often talk about the inclusion of Roma and the need for education and employment. Having Roma Cabinet staff members would demonstrate that the European Commission practices what it preaches, and may also increase the credibility of the Commissioners when they recommend what national governments should do about Roma.

4. Such initiatives could build on the existing internships for Roma within the Commission, which currently have little potential to lead to jobs. It could transform these internships to a more competitive and challenging scheme with a real chance of employment.

5. Some interns could be supervised by Roma Cabinet advisors and assigned specific tasks aimed to synchronize or complement existing initiatives. This would likely capture the interest of the interns (compared to working on non Roma-related tasks) and would increase their feelings of responsibility and importance within the institution.  

European Parliament: MEPs and Political Groups

Rationale

The Parliament employs over 600 people in de jure temporary jobs and de facto permanent ones for the Political Groups, which are not subject to open competitions. Considering the number and the problems faced by Roma, if each major political group had one Roma advisor this could greatly help their activities.

One political group, the EPP (Group of the European People's Party -Christian Democrats and European Democrats), has already started an internship programme for Roma. The same rationale related to improving the European Commission Roma internship programme could be applied to the Parliament.

Each MEP has an annual budget of around 100 000 Euros which can be used to employ assistants. If just 1% of the MEPs in the European Parliament would employ a Roma assistant, that would dramatically increase not only awareness, but also the visibility of Roma in the European Parliament. We should not depend on the existing Roma MEPs or the MEPs already aware and active in Roma issues; instead it should be other MEPs who make the effort to attract Roma interns in their offices.

Council of Europe

Rationale

Alvaro GIL-ROBLES, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe,  has often contributed to reports strongly documenting the extreme situation faced by Roma in Europe . His Cabinet[6] employs 14 people, none of them of Roma origins.

As in the case of the Commission and Parliament, the Council of Europe operates an internship scheme. Although this programme has been running for 3 years, there are still no Roma employed within the Council of Europe. In addition, none of the Roma interns have been involved, up to this point, in the activities of Alvaro’s cabinet.

Concrete Positive Experiences –European and Intergovernmental Institutions

The best positive experience comes from the OSCE, which around seven years ago created the OSCE Contact Point for Roma and Sinti and appointed a Roma - Nicolae Gheorghe - as the OSCE ODIHR Adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues. This move placed Roma issues on the European scene, enormously boosted the capacity of Roma NGOs and gave deserved visibility to a Roma role model. At this moment the OSCE, within Nicolae Gheorghe’s Contact Point, is the only Intergovernmental Organisation which employs Roma (two of them) within their headquarters.

The Council of Europe established a Roma and Travellers Division which has a strong impact, including ECRI reports and the increasing visibility of Anti-Gypsyism. The appointment of Miranda Vuolasantra as an adviser seconded by the Finnish government also gave, for the first time, visibility to traditional Roma women and promoted a positive role model.

The initiation of the European Roma and Travellers Forum is also a major result of the work, lobbying and support of the Finnish government and the Council of Europe’s Roma and Travellers Division.

Since enlargement, we have seen a dramatic improvement in the activity of the European Parliament. Positive changes include two Hungarian Roma MEPs in Brussels, a series of very important hearings, the most comprehensive resolution on Roma (April 2005), and the signature by 38 MEPs of an open letter addressed to the Commissioner’s High Level Group of Fundamental Rights (an ERIO initiative).

Both Livia Jaroka and Victoria Mohacsi, the Roma MEPs, were instrumental in raising the awareness and the importance of Roma-related issues on the European agenda. Two Roma assistants are employed by MEPs (both of them participants in our Diplomacy course). One of them is employed by a non-Roma MEP, Els de Groen. They  play a very important role in the Roma-related activities of the European Parliament.

The European Commission has lately taken some major steps forward which complement the existing anti-discrimination framework: the creation of an Interservice group focused on Roma, the inclusion of anti-Gypsyism (through the EUMC) and Roma-related issues in most relevant documents, and an increasing amount of funding and efficiency when targeting Roma communities. Collaboration with Roma organisations and civil society groups has also recently improved.

The internships within all of these organizations are a major step forward. Similar initiatives should be replicated within national administrations and Ministries of Foreign Affairs. It is particularly important to note that the EPP internship scheme for Roma within the European Parliament is paid for by the EPP. This example should be replicated by other European parties.

Need for Improvement

The existing good initiatives are not well enough known, well enough advertised or sufficiently replicated.

European Commission: Consultation with Roma regarding Roma-related policy and projects is still very limited within the European Commission. The Interservice Group urgently needs to be strengthened by a secretariat and a budget line. Even better would be to replicate the OSCE initiative of Advisor for Roma or the Council of Europe’s Roma and Travelers Division.

Several European Expert Networks are financed by the European Commission. None of these include any Roma, despite the fact that some of them, for example the Network of Fundamental Rights Experts, deals quite extensively with Roma.

In his interview for the “Equal Rights in Practice” this autumn Commissioner Spidla talked about “a high level group to advise on the specific issues of improving the social and labour market inclusion of disadvantaged ethnic minorities.” He said that “this is especially relevant in the light of enlargement and the situation of Roma communities across Europe …”

If any steps have been taken to establish such a group, we are not aware of it. None of the Roma present have been consulted on this topic. It is hard to justify the lack of dialogue on this issue, especially considering that the group of “top experts from politics, business, civil society and international community” will meet at the beginning of 2006.

The European Commission funded NGO networks continue to do very little when it comes to capacitating Roma. Despite strong talk about effective mainstreaming, none of the many European Networks in Brussels dealing with Roma-related issues employ Roma or even offer Roma internships. The Commission can and should pressure the recipients of significant funding for Roma-related projects to ensure the capacity building of Roma.

Currently, the Council of Europe and European Commission Roma internships are not paid for by these institutions, but by the Open Society Institute. Furthermore, none of those internships lead to jobs within the mentioned institutions.

UNDP and World Bank: 

However, the efforts of the European Institutions look good compared to the much poorer situation in other institutions dealing with Roma issues. It is necessary to apply pressure to these institutions to at least adopt the positive steps of the European Institutions.

The UNDP has been a major player in Roma-related issues for the last four to five years. The UNDP is in competition with Roma NGOs in many countries as it accesses national funds dedicated to the improvement of the situation of Roma. The UNDP has not yet employed a single Roma in a permanent position and does not have an internship scheme which targets Roma. No Roma are employed or have been employed by the UN in Geneva or New York and just one of the many interns is known to be of Roma origins. Considering the General Recommendation 27 of the UN which explicitly says :

one can wonder how this never seem to apply to Intergovernmental Organisations which in fact represent states.

The World Bank, despite co-launching with the OSI an extremely important initiative – the Decade of Roma Inclusion – until now has not employed any Roma in its team in Washington or in any of the national offices in Europe . Despite great reports and speeches from World Bank officials about the need to include Roma, we have just one Roma, Rumian Russinov, employed at this moment in a common initiative of the World Bank and OSI (funded mostly by the OSI). The World Bank does not offer an internship scheme targeting capacity building of Roma.

Ministries of Foreign Affairs: There are still no visible Roma employed by European MFAs despite a very good number of capable Roma able to represent their countries. None of those MFAs have made a significant effort to capacitate and include Roma in their structures. None of the missions to the EU of the many European countries with a significant Roma population include any Roma.