PRESS RELEASE

Contacts:
Open Society Istitute–Sofia: Maria Metodieva; +359 887 76 1227; mmetodieva@osf.bg
The World Bank: Christina Lakatos; +1 202 458 1343; clakatos@worldbank.org

Sofia, June 12, 2007—Moving from sporadic to integrated Roma inclusion policies, as well as making efficient use of European Union funds, are necessary conditions for the continued success of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, agreed the representatives of the nine Decade countries, Roma civil society, and international organizations at the tenth international meeting of the Decade’s Steering Committee today in Sofia.

"The EU must develop a European-wide Roma policy," stressed Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, whose country is currently concluding its one-year term as president of the Roma Decade. EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Hübner echoed his call in a video message [5:57, MPG - 55M]: "The Roma issue is not just a national issue and thus requires a common European response."

Open Society Institute (OSI) chairman George Soros emphasized the importance of maximizing the use of available EU funds in both EU member states and accession candidates. A draft OSI report presented at the meeting analyzes best practices in Roma projects funded by the EU and concludes from 47 examples that it is critical for Roma NGOs to cooperate with local governments on projects that are multidimensional and part of a broad policy framework.

"Local governments must be capable of putting in quality applications for Structural Funds, and the Roma community needs to be involved every step of the way," said Soros. "National governments and the European Commission need to help local governments to make the most of the funds available to them."

Roma civil society presented the first-ever monitoring report of the Decade initiative, Decade Watch. An analysis and ranking of government inputs toward institutional arrangements and the four Decade priority areas of education, health, employment, and housing, the report found that while all countries have made progress since the Decade's launch in 2005, governments must take the next step and scale up from pilot projects to strategic, integrated national policies that filter down to the municipal level.

Measuring progress on the Decade's objectives will also require systematic nationwide data collection on Roma, without which results are impossible to determine. The current limited data collection in most countries cannot be related to the entire population.

"The non-Roma community must understand that Roma inclusion is in everyone’s economic interest," said Shigeo Katsu, World Bank Vice-President for Europe and Central Asia. "As populations age and decline in Central and Eastern Europe, a well-educated and trained Roma population is the only way to ensure productivity and continued economic growth."