34 Amendments of Loránt VINCZE related to 2020/2011(INI)
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas 43 % of Roma are in some form of paid employment1 ; whereas 50% of Roma between the age of 6 and 24 do not attend school and 63 % of young Roma (aged 16-24) are not in education, employment or training (NEET)2 ; whereas the increasing share of Roma NEETs was an area where the situation had deteriorated in 2016 compared to 20113 ; _________________ 1European Commission, 2019 Report on National Roma Integration Strategies: Key Conclusions, p. 3. 2Report on the implementation of national Roma integration strategies – 2019, COM(2019)0406, p. 4. 3 Roma inclusion measures reported under the EU framework for NRIS, SWD(2019) 320 final, PART 1/2, p. 18.
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas Roma are struggling to find stable employment as they do not fit job requirements because of their often limited chances of developing their skills and competences;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas Roma are born into an extreme generational poverty, one third of Roma households do not have tap water, just over half have an indoor flush toilet or shower, and 78 % of Roma live in overcrowded housing4 ; _________________ 4European Commission, 2019 Report on National Roma Integration Strategies: Key Conclusions, p. 6.
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas Roma and Sinti represent Europe's largest ethnic minority; whereas a significant proportion of people with Romani background in Europe live in marginalextremely precarious conditions in both rural and urban areas, and in very poor socio- economic circumstances25 ; __________________ 25 FRA, Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey, Roma – Selected findings, 2016.
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas according to selected findings on Roma from the FRA’s survey EU-MIDIS II, some 80 % of Roma surveyed live below their country’s at- risk-of-poverty threshold; every third Roma lives in housing without tap water and one in 10 in housing without electricity; every third Roma child lives in a household where someone went to bed hungry at least once in the previous month; 63 % of Roma aged 16-24 are not employed, in education or training; only one out of two Roma children attend pre- school or kindergarten, and a very small proportion continue school after compulsory education, 50 % of Roma between the ages of six and 24 not attending school;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas a large number of Roma still live in informal, unhygienic and irregular settlements in miserable living conditions; whereas many do not possess identification documents and lack medical insurance; whereas many suffer of extremely high rates of illiteracy and early school leaving;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Calls on the more attention paid to those Member States that have a sizable Roma population and history of rather ineffective measures. The Commission should monitor and better support these Member States and their policies and measures;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas, while improving the situation of Roma is the primary responsibility of the Member States, the European Union can provide the necessary impetus, structure and coordination to move away from the institutional and political inertia that often hampers the improvement of the situation of Roma in Member States;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the creation of the first European Roma strategy was an immense achievement, as it put the necessity to improve the situation of Roma on the European policy agenda, created vital institutional structures and networks and put pressure on Member States to develop national strategies to address their shortcomings;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights that the most critical points to address in the area of Roma employment are effective transition from education to the open labour market, tackling negative stereotypes that are often the biggest obstacles to find employment, tackling discrimination by employers, matching labour demand with labour supply, and the growing rates of Roma youth not in education;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas over the past years important experience and knowledge has been accumulated related to the implementation of national Roma strategies, such as the need for more embeddedness of such strategies into national, regional and local sectoral policies, the need for a more efficient use of EU financing, especially for long-term integration projects; whereas all lessons learnt should be reflected in the new “EU initiative on Roma equality and inclusion up to 2030” to be presented by the Commission;
Amendment 87 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines the need for an urgent and thorough commitment by the relevant state authorities to the desegregation of Roma pupils in schools and to securing the same quality and inclusive mainstream learning as the non-Roma pupils, as Roma children are often educated in segregated environments, while the misdiagnosis of Roma children as having special educational needs is still a common discriminatory practice;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas a Directive for the Equality and Inclusion of People with Romani Background, developed on the basis of more realistic quantitative and qualitative data, specifically disaggregated for Roma, a legislative act with a binding character on the European Union and its Member States, is needed and must be proposed by the Commission;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas adequate funding must be allocated for the implementation of post- 2020 National Inclusion Strategies for People with Romani Background from the local, regional and national budgets of the Member States; whereas the EU and the Member States must ensure that the funds are allocated are properly spent and not misusedfor objectives and projects that have the biggest potential long-term impact on the situation of the Roma;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. Whereas approximately half of the Roma in Europe live outside the European Union; whereas their situation remains particularly problematic in most of the candidate, potential candidate and neighbourhood countries; whereas the European Union can have a strong impact on their situation through the accession negotiations as well as through the provision of financial assistance;
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls on the Commission to facilitate an exchange of best practices between Member States and to monitor the progress;
Amendment 115 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Calls on the Member States to make the greatest effort in order to sensitise public opinion concerning Roma inclusion;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers thatit imperative for the Commission musto develop a proposal for a post-2020 directive for equality and inclusion of people with Romani background in Europe putting inclusive education, the fight against poverty and anti-gypsyism at the forefront; stresses that the new proposal must include clear and binding objectives, measures and targets for the Member States, a clear timeline and clear and binding progress requirements, as well as success indicators and adequate funding for its implementation; emphasises the need for a robust monitoring and oversight mechanism to ensure effective implementation and appropriate use of funds; notes that equal participation in all domains of public life, political participation, and the language, arts, culture, history and environment of people with Romani background should be explicitly mentioned in the proposal for post-2020 EU public policy for people with Romani background, as additional measures to the four main priority areas of education, employment, housing and healthcare;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to develop a proposal for a post-2020 EU directive for the equality and inclusion of people with Romani background, giving priority to (i) achieving a positive impactthe biggest impact on the most marginalized people of Romani background; (ii) a rights-based approach, including a plan to eliminate social and economic inequalities; (iii) developing a vision for the future proposal, including specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time- bound objectives to protect and improve the inclusion of people with Romani background; and (iv) eliminating inequalities, especially for children from their earliest years;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Stresses that inclusive education from early childhood must be a key component of the new proposal, as education is the primary means to break the generational vicious circle of exclusion and poverty;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the link between EU mainstream financial and policy instruments, particularly the European Structural and Investment Funds, and inclusion priorities for people with Romani background, as part of the next multiannual financial framework; calls on the Commission to make the adoption of national programmes financed out of ESIF funds, and in particular out of the ESF, conditional upon the integration of Commission and Council recommendations regarding the situation of Roma;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission that with regard to Member States with a significant number of Roma to include in the Country Specific recommendations an assessment of the progress in achieving the objectives from the national strategies;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Is of the opinion that the proposal for the post-2020 strategy should also include an external component concerning accession candidate and potential candidate countries as well as neighbourhood countries through which the EU could support these countries in developing comprehensive long-term strategies for Roma inclusion and integration and to offer financial support in the areas such as education, health and social services, housing and employment;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls on the Member States to give the highest priority to alleviating extreme forms of poverty, especially hunger, malnutrition and severe housing deprivation among Roma;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Is of the opinion that these strategies should not be conceived as isolated documents, but should instead be well embedded in horizontal central and local policies and the activities of line ministries;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Points out that the implementation of Roma integration policies are strongly dependent on the political will from Member States; calls on national governments to put their Roma inclusion national strategies high on their agendas; calls on national parliaments to actively follow the actions of their governments in this regard;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8c. Calls on the Member States to place at the heart of their national documents comprehensive, committed and well-funded long-term education strategies that fully addresses all the main factors and pre-conditions defining the precarious situation of Roma, such as educational, economic, social and cultural factors, including racism and discrimination; is of the view that these education strategies should be based on a broad involvement of education professionals, central and local government authorities, civil society, Roma communities and all interested citizens, while drawing on from best practices across Europe;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8d. Considers that education reforms must comprehensively address the reasons behind the alarming early school drop-out rate of Roma children and ensure that Roma children benefit of the same educational opportunities as their non- Roma peers; points out that this must involve the full recognition of the fact that Roma children do not have the same learning possibilities at home as their peers do, which makes the availability of additional active measures and supportive tutoring for Roma children necessary in order to break out from the self- perpetuating cycle of low education; points out that more attention has to be paid to the involvement of parents to support their children’s education and to give these parents the support they need; is of the opinion that the provision of free meals in school and childcare establishments would encourage parents keeping their children in school; calls on Member States to make full use of the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived in this regard; believes that for children who have abandoned school and/or are illiterate and lack basic skills, new opportunities should be designed to continue their education;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8e. Calls on Member States to put in place special training programmes for teachers to in order to equip them to better handle discrimination issues among children as well as to pay greater attention to the physical and emotional wellbeing of Roma children;
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 f (new)
Paragraph 8 f (new)
8f. Calls on national governments to ensure better access of Roma to the labour market, including through active adult education and vocational education policies targeting adults with low skills, transforming practices of working in the grey economy into legal work-contracts protecting Roma workers and ensuring them long-term work prospects and encouraging stronger engagement of businesses; calls on Member States to promote the employment opportunities in the civil service for Roma;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Points out that beyond the strict enforcement of anti-discrimination legislation, sensitizing public opinion about the particular situation of Roma through media and school curricula and activities is of particular importance in order for majority populations to overcome their prejudices and be more empathic in their actions and communication;
Amendment 257 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Member States to strengthen the participation of people with Romani background in policy-making, moving from a paternalistic to a non- paternalistic approach as well as to promote Roma voter education and turnout;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Member States not to rely exclusively on EU financial support in order to improve the situation of the Roma; calls on the Member States to indicate what level of funding would be needed to carry out the proposed measures for inclusion of people with Romani background and to state the amount of money available for such measures from the national and from the EU budgets;
Amendment 267 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Member States to develop more efficient and strengthefinancing measures that target the people in need monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the funds allocated are properly spent and not misusedin the most direct and efficient way possible and which rely on strengthened monitoring and evaluation mechanisms;