European Commissioner Reding: 'Roma' not a term meaning Romania

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 Share

The word 'Roma' does not mean Romania, the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Vice-President of the European Commission Viviane Reding said upon presenting the conclusions of the Committee of the Regions held on Tuesday in Brussels.



The Commissioner answered to an intervention of the mayor of Cumpana village of Constanta County (southeastern Romania), Mariana Gaju, who is also the president of the Romanian Villages Association; she showed that her village has a very heterogeneous population, including mostly Romanian, but also ethnic Turks, Tatars, and Roma.



The Romanian mayor pointed out that Romania must not become a target of the European Union from this point of view, and the principle of free movement must be observed for all the European citizens, to allow them working and overcoming the economic crisis in the whole European Union. The municipal official stressed that 'Roma' does not come from 'Romanian', and Roma live in Romania and other European states as well.



Yes, you are right, my Romanian friends, Roma does not mean Romania, it does not come from Romania. We have 12 million Roma people, most of them living in horrid poverty conditions in many member states (...) We are all responsible for that, Commissioner Reding underlined, quoted by Agerpres correspodent.



According to her, Roma people have many children, meaning that there is a growing subset of the population.



If those children do not attend schools, the next generation of politicians sitting in this hall will keep talking about the same issue; this is why I ask all member states to draw up action plans forthe Roma, Viviane Reding added.



She noted that similar debates on the Roma population are held for more than three years now.



Viviane Reding also mentioned that she got many letters from mayors, especially in France, complaining about Roma communities.



Within this context, the European Commissioner announced the third Summit on the Roma Population, to be held on April 4, 2014 in Brussels, gathering ministers of the member states, representatives of Roma communities and of the Committee of the Regions.