Justice and Home Affairs

1
Justice and Home Affairs

• Presented by Emine Yuseinova

Date 11-12-2004
2
Brief Background to JHA Cooperation

• Co-operation between Member States in the
  area of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) began in
  the mid-1970s on an informal, intergovernmental
  basis which was outside the Community framework.
  The Treaty on European Union (TEU), which entered
  into force on 1 November 1993, put the JHA area
  on a more formal footing by incorporating JHA in
  an established intergovernmental framework,
  specifically Title VI TEU.

3
Brief Background to JHA Cooperation

• On 1 May 1999, the Treaty of Amsterdam came
  into force and made significant changes in the
  field of JHA with a focus on the creation of an
  area of freedom, security and justice. The Treaty
  added a new Title IV to the Treaty establishing
  the European Community (TEC) which covers visas,
  asylum, immigration and other policies related to
  the free movement of persons. This Title also
  covers measures in the field of judicial
  co-operation in civil matters having cross-border
  implications. The intergovernmental framework
  continues to apply to police and customs
  co-operation and co-operation in criminal law
  matters.

4
The origins of cooperation

• The 1967 Naples Convention on cooperation and
  mutual assistance between customs administrations
  provided the first framework for exchanges
  between Member States. From 1975 onwards,
  intergovernmental cooperation slowly began to
  develop outside the Community's legal framework
  for dealing with immigration, the right of asylum
  and police and judicial cooperation. Informal
  arrangements were established for sharing
  experiences, exchanging information and expertise
  and setting up networks to facilitate contacts
  between Member States.

5
The origins of cooperation

• With this aim in mind, working parties such as
  the Trevi Group were set up consisting of
  officials from the appropriate departments in the
  Member States. Although the original remit of the
  Trevi Group covered terrorism and internal
  security, its scope was extended in 1985 to cover
  illegal immigration and organised crime.
• Meanwhile, beginning in 1984, the Ministers for
  Justice and Home Affairs were holding regular
  six-monthly meetings on specific subjects (such
  as police, judicial and customs cooperation or
  the free movement of persons).

6
From the Single Act to the Maastricht Treaty

• In 1986 the Single Act marked a turning
  point in intergovernmental cooperation. Article
  8a of the Act provides for the creation of a
  single internal market based on four fundamental
  freedoms the free movement of goods, capital,
  services and persons. The free movement of
  workers , particularly the right to reside in
  other Member States, was already well developed.
• The idea of freedom of movement for all
  (European citizens and non-European nationals),
  which entails the abolition of border controls,
  was more difficult to achieve because of
  reluctance on the part of some Member States. At
  the same time, the idea was born that the free
  movement of persons had to be accompanied by
  compensatory measures, such as the strengthening
  of external border controls and the definition of
  European asylum and immigration policies.

7
From the Single Act to the Maastricht Treaty

• Since progress on the free movement of
  persons and on cooperation in the field of
  justice and home affairs was proving difficult to
  achieve within the Community framework, France,
  Germany and the Benelux countries concluded an
  agreement in this area at Schengen in 1985,
  together with an implementing convention, which
  was signed in 1990. The aim was to make it easier
  to abolish internal border checks while improving
  controls at external borders and to harmonise
  arrangements relating to visas, asylum and police
  and judicial cooperation.

8
From the Single Act to the Maastricht Treaty

• While this cooperation has enabled some
  Member States to forge ahead, this
  intergovernmental approach raises certain
  problems, which observers have been careful to
  point out. Firstly, it is difficult to coordinate
  the activities of the working parties. The
  various groups set up over the years deliberate
  separately and report to different groups of
  ministers, so that sometimes work is duplicated.
  Moreover, by the very nature of such cooperation,
  neither the European Parliament nor the national
  parliaments can control measures taken in this
  way. The instruments employed are those of
  traditional intergovernmental cooperation
  agreements and the drafting of resolutions,
  conclusions and recommendations.

9
From the Single Act to the Maastricht Treaty

• To improve the effectiveness of cooperation in
  the field of justice and home affairs and to
  ensure more democratic control, the working
  parties needed to be brought under one umbrella
  within the legal framework of the European Union.

10
Title VI of the Treaty on European Union

• The 1993 Union Treaty (TEU) provided a new basis
  for collaboration between all the Member States
  in the field of justice and home affairs by
  adding a third pillar to the structure of the
  Community.
• The new form of cooperation covered nine areas
  considered to be of common interest asylum
  policy the crossing of external borders
  immigration combating drug addiction combating
  international fraud judicial cooperation in
  civil matters judicial cooperation in criminal
  matters customs cooperation police cooperation.
  

11
Title VI of the Treaty on European Union

• It incorporated the existing working parties into
  a complex five-tier structure specific working
  parties, steering committees, a Coordinating
  Committee set up under Article 36 of the Union
  Treaty, the Committee of Permanent
  Representatives and the Council of Ministers for
  Justice and Home Affairs. The Schengen
  arrangements were kept on the back burner, to a
  certain extent, as not all the Member States
  accepted their objectives.

12
Title VI of the Treaty on European Union

• The third pillar's decision-taking mechanisms,
  which were based on those of the Common Foreign
  and Security Policy , very quickly created
  problems.
• Mainly, the distinction between the provisions
  contained in the EC Treaty and those in the EU
  Treaty was often blurred, therefore demarcation
  problems arose, which, on the other hand, were
  not conducive to taking action or decisions.

13
Title VI of the Treaty on European Union

• Seen from an institutional perspective, the
  third pillar as constructed by the Maastricht
  Treaty gives the Community institutions only a
  limited role and no real opportunity to control
  decisions taken by the Member States. Some of the
  most frequently mentioned problems are
• the limitations on legal control by the Court of
  Justice, which is permitted to interpret
  conventions and resolve disputes between Member
  States only where the possibility is expressly
  provided for in the text

14
Title VI of the Treaty on European Union

• the lack of information reaching the European
  Parliament, which, under the terms of the Treaty,
  should be consulted by the Council but is usually
  informed after the event and is therefore unable
  to express an opinion on discussions while they
  are taking place
• the European Commission's right of initiative is
  limited to six of the nine areas covered by Title
  VI of the EU Treaty and is shared with the Member
  States (the Member States alone can initiate
  measures in relation to judicial cooperation in
  criminal, police and customs matters)
• the Council's decisions must be unanimous, which
  often paralyses decision-taking.

15
Title VI of the Treaty on European Union

• These difficulties facing cooperation in justice
  and home affairs explain the requests made and
  criticisms voiced by the Commission, Parliament
  and other bodies at the discussions held before
  and during the 1996-97 Intergovernmental
  Conference which produced the Treaty of Amsterdam.

16
The amendments made by the Treaty of Amsterdam

• The Treaty of Amsterdam changed the nature
  of cooperation in the field of justice and home
  affairs by defining the area of freedom,
  security, and justice in more ambitious and more
  precise terms, by improving its effectiveness, by
  making it more democratic and by establishing a
  better balance between the roles of the various
  institutions. The aim is to establish the free
  movement of European Union citizens and non-EU
  nationals throughout the Union within the next
  five years, while guaranteeing public security by
  combating all forms of organised crime
  (trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation
  of children, vehicle, arms and drug trafficking,
  corruption, fraud) and terrorism.

17
The amendments made by the Treaty of Amsterdam

• Closer cooperation between police forces and
  judicial authorities on crime
• Introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, closer
  cooperation enables the most ambitious Member
  States to work together more intensively while
  also leaving the door open to the other Member
  States. Those Member States wishing to establish
  closer cooperation can use the institutions,
  procedures and mechanisms provided for by the
  Union Treaty and the EC Treaty.

18
Tampere Summit

• The Tampere summit, devoted to the creation
  of an area of freedom, security and justice,
  considered that the establishment of such an area
  was as important as the establishment of the
  single market in its day. The Heads of State and
  Government thus invited the Commission to produce
  a " scoreboard " listing all the measures to be
  taken in the next five years and keeping progress
  under review. The aim is to develop an open and
  secure European Union, fully committed to the
  obligations of the Geneva Refugee Convention and
  other relevant human rights instruments, and to
  improve European citizens' access to justice
  throughout the Union.

19
The amendments made by the Nice Treaty- the
Member States decided that most of the JHA
areas would no longer require unanimity, but
would be subject to the co-decision procedure.

• Since the 1999 Tampere European Council,
  the Member States have stated on several
  occasions that the principle of mutual
  recognition must be the cornerstone of a European
  area of freedom, security and justice. To an
  extent, the terrorist attacks of 11 September
  2001 in the United States accelerated the
  decision-making process in the European Union.

20
The Laeken European Council

• At the meetings held in the wake of the attacks
  (extraordinary JHA Council of 20 September 2001,
  extraordinary meeting of the European Council in
  Brussels on 21 September 2001), the Member States
  undertook to take decisive action against
  increasingly transnational organised crime. The
  Laeken European Council provided an opportunity
  to assess the progress made and to discuss key
  issues such as Eurojust, the European arrest
  warrant and the framework decision on combating
  terrorism .
• In view of the recent and forthcoming enlargement
  , cooperation in the field of justice and home
  affairs has assumed ever greater importance in
  Europe.

21
Justice and Home Affairs

• Citizens of the EU expect to live without
  fear of persecution or violence wherever they may
  live. EU legislation in Justice and Home Affairs
  (JHA) has been designed to address and deal with
  the following issues
• political asylum
• illegal immigration
• Organized crime
• Terrorism
• Citizenship

22
Justice and Home Affairs

• 6. Criminal justice
• Customs cooperation
• Fundamental rights
• freedom to travel
• Minority protection
• Police cooperation
• JHA has even engaged in the areas of external
  relations and enlargement.
• As more and more citizens take advantage of their
  rights to move around the EU for either business
  or personal reasons, the need for greater
  co-operation between national forces, customs
  services and legal systems is set to increase
  enormously.

23
Political Asylum

• A pressing issue today is how to cope in an area
  without internal frontiers with large numbers of
  immigrants and asylum seekers while respecting
  Europes humanitarian traditions of welcoming
  foreigners and offering a safe haven to refugees
  from persecution and danger. While it remains up
  to individual Member States to decide whether or
  not to grant asylum, the EU has decided on an
  overall policy so that asylum-seekers are treated
  similarly by all EU countries.
• The EU and Australia hold regular meetings on
  asylum policy at Senior Official level.

24
Immigration

• Immigration When Labor Supply Increases,
• Salaries Decrease

25
Immigration

• In spite of the restrictive immigration policies
  which have been in place since the 1970s in most
  Member States, large numbers of migrants have
  continued to come to the EU looking for work
  together with asylum-seekers and illegal
  immigrants. Taking advantage of persons seeking a
  better life, smuggling and trafficking networks
  have taken hold across the EU. This situation
  meant that considerable resources have had to be
  mobilised to fight illegal migration especially
  to target traffickers and smugglers. Furthermore,
  the EU needs migrants in certain sectors and
  regions as one element of the policies being
  developed to deal with its economic and
  demographic needs.
• Realising that a new approach to managing
  migration was necessary, the leaders of the EU
  set out at the October 1999 European Council in
  Tampere (Finland) the elements for a common EU
  immigration policy.

26
Organized Crime and Terrorism

• People rightly expect the Union to tackle threats
  to their security, and to protect them from
  terrorism and serious, organised, cross-border
  crime. This requires close police and judicial
  cooperation to eliminate hiding places for
  criminals and their ill-gotten gains.
• Criminal organisations always exploit the
  weaknesses of the legal and economic systems in
  which they operate, and the European Union gives
  them a wide open space in which to move around.
  Terrorists, drug barons, people traffickers,
  money launderers or fraudsters operate as if
  national frontiers do not exist they can plan a
  crime in one country, execute it in another and
  live in a third.

27
Police and Customs Cooperation

• As more and more Europeans take advantage
  of their rights to move freely around the
  European Union (EU) either for business or
  personal reasons, the need for greater
  co-operation between national police forces,
  customs services and legal systems is set to
  increase enormously. Similarly, the activities of
  international terrorist groups and criminal
  organisations benefit from and use this freedom.
  To combat them efficiently, the EU's national law
  enforcement agencies must co-operate with their
  counterparts in other EU countries on an almost
  daily basis. Several measures have been put in
  place to help them work together quickly and
  efficiently.

28
Police and Customs Cooperation

• In a European Union which is becoming a genuine
  single market, national customs authorities have
  a crucial role to play in fighting cross-border
  organised crime. Several measures have been put
  in place at EU level to help them work together
  quickly and efficiently.
• Within their national competencies, customs
  administrations of the Member States contribute
  to thei fight against cross-border crime through
  the prevention, detection, investigation and
  prosecution of activities in the areas of
  irregular or illegal movement of goods, the
  trafficking in prohibited goods, money laundering
  and the protection of the financial, cultural and
  environmental interests as well as the health,
  safety and security of the EU citizens.

29
Combating Drugs

• Different strategies are now in place to deal
  with the numerous problems drugs cause, and a
  specific EU agency the European Monitoring
  Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction provides a
  continuous flow of information.
• Drug trafficking respects no borders and trends
  in drug use spread rapidly. National police
  forces can tackle drug-related crime only by
  working together. Policymakers, health
  practitioners and educators are more effective
  when they share information and target funding on
  a Union-wide basis. This is why the EU has
  launched an action plan on drugs and has a
  coordinated strategy of supporting national and
  local campaigns.

30
Combating Drugs

• Law enforcement agencies cooperate to act against
  traffickers and to prevent drugs reaching the
  streets. The EU works with countries around the
  world to encourage them not to grow crops that
  can be turned into narcotics. Increasingly,
  synthetic drugs are produced in the Union and the
  police devote a great deal of energy to locating
  and shutting down the factories that make them.

31
Criminal Justice

• The creation of a common area of freedom,
  security and justice has been asserted as an aim
  of the European Union since the Amsterdam treaty.
  As regards criminal justice, the aim is to ensure
  that cross-border crimes are dealt with more
  efficiently and that individuals have their
  rights guaranteed equally, no matter under which
  Member State's jurisdiction their case is being
  heard in, whether they are suspects, accused or
  victims.
• Legal approximation, coordination of proceedings,
  mutual recognition of final decisions and
  strengthening mutual confidence in particular by
  protecting the rights of individuals are the
  major ways to strengthen judicial cooperation in
  criminal matters in the European Union.

32
Fundamental Rights

• The Treaty of Amsterdam has given EU citizens
  additional fundamental rights to tackle most
  forms of discrimination on the grounds of
  nationality, race, sex, religious belief,
  disability, age or sexual orientation. In
  December 2000, a Charter of Fundamental Rights of
  the European Union was proclaimed by the European
  Parliament, the Council and the Commission.

33
Citizenship

• Every person holding the nationality of a Member
  State of the European Union is a citizen of the
  Union. Citizenship of the Union supplements
  national citizenship without replacing it. It is
  made up of a set of rights enshrined in the EU
  Treaties.
• EU citizenship is a set of rights additional to
  those of national citizenship (e.g. the right to
  move and reside freely within the EU the right
  to vote for and stand as a candidate at municipal
  and European Parliament elections in whichever
  Member State an EU citizen resides etc.)

34
Minority Protection

• In the European Community's foundational
  documents, there was little attention to
  fundamental rights or freedoms. However, over
  time, the EU has increasingly articulated its
  aspiration to represent not only stability and
  prosperity, but also democratic values,
  culminating with the adoption of explicitly
  political criteria for EU membership at the
  Copenhagen Council in 1993, including respect
  for and protection of minorities.

35
Minority Protection

• The immediate consequence of the Copenhagen
  declaration was that candidate States were
  required to demonstrate that they ensure minority
  protection in order to accede to the EU. This has
  led to intense scrutiny by the EU institutions,
  in particular the Commission, of the situation of
  vulnerable minorities in the candidate States.
  The Commission has produced annual Regular
  Reports evaluating the progress of each of the
  candidate countries in fulfilling the so-called
  Copenhagen criteria the political and
  economic criteria and ability to take on the
  obligations of membership (acquis).

36
Minority Protection

• However, the requirement to demonstrate respect
  for, and protection of, minorities is as yet not
  matched in internal EU documents binding upon
  member States. Minority rights are until now
  excluded from EU-wide legislation and to date
  there are no explicit and binding minority
  protection standards on the EU level.

37
Enlargement

• Justice and home affairs issues both new and
  crucial to EU enlargement process
• Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
  Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and
  Slovenia have joined the European Union on 1 May
  2004. Negotiations are under way with Bulgaria
  and Romania and have not yet started with Turkey.
  For the first time in an EU enlargement process,
  justice and home affairs is part of the "acquis"
  which the acceding countries have to take on
  board to join the EU - an important part as it
  deals with fundamental rights, EU citizenship,
  freedom of circulation and residence, asylum and
  immigration, the judiciary, police and customs.

38
External Relations

• Justice and home affairs a key area in the
  European Unions relations with third countries
  and international organisations
• An essential component of developing the European
  Union into an area of freedom, security and
  justice is its external dimension, which includes
  cooperating with partner countries and
  international organizations to construct an area
  of peace, stability and prosperity encompassing
  the neighbors of an enlarged European Union.

39
Roma

• Roma are one of the largest, but most neglected
  minorities in Europe. Their history is one of
  discrimination, intolerance and violence and they
  continue to be subject to this. Two thirds of the
  minority live in Eastern Europe. The enlargement
  of the European Union will eventually bring in
  between five and six million EU citizens of Roma
  origin. After enlargement Roma will most probably
  seize the opportunities EU membership offers them
  to improve their situation. Many Roma live in
  poor regions, which will soon be able to apply
  for funding from the main EU funds. The extent to
  which an enlarged Union succeeds in improving the
  plight of the Roma may be seen as a test of
  Europes social and democratic identity.

40
Bulgaria and Roma minority

• In the census conducted in 2001, 4.6 of the
  population identified themselves as Roma and 9.4
  as of Turkish ethnic origin.
• As reported in previous years, Bulgaria has a
  good Framework Programme on integration of
  minorities targeted at the Roma. Regrettably,
  however, this has not yet been put into practice.
  There has been very little change in the
  situation of the Roma minority and there are no
  significant developments in their socio-economic
  situation and living conditions to report.

41
BG and Roma Minority

• According to previous Regular Reports, Bulgaria
  continues to respect human rights and freedoms,
  and continues to fulfil the Copenhagen Criteria.
• However, concerning the Roma community, little
  has been done to remedy problems of social
  discrimination or to take concrete action to
  improve very poor living conditions. The adoption
  of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation
  would be an important step forward in this
  regard.

42
BG and Roma

• Roma continue to suffer from social inequalities
  due to the accumulation over time of factors that
  have worsened living conditions. There has been
  no change in the very high rates of unemployment.
  Discrimination, and cases of violence against
  members of the Roma community continue to be
  reported. This situation needs to be addressed
  urgently. In this context, the adoption of
  comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation
  would be an important step forward.

43
BG and Roma

• The "Minority rights and protection of
  minorities" section of the Commission's reports
  has traditionally been Bulgaria's weakest area.
  And the situation is intolerable the Roma
  minority is almost completely excluded from
  participation in local and national government
  the educational system segregates Roma children
  in separate elementary, middle, and high schools
  the health care infrastructure and utilities in
  Roma neighbourhoods are by far the worst in the
  country.
• Everything about the Commission's criticism is
  justified, except the fact that similar
  conditions in Member States suffer no reprimand.

44
BG and Roma

• Living conditions for the Roma remain extremely
  poor. There is little progress to report on the
  call in the Framework Programme for
  municipalities to legalise illegally-built homes
  in Roma neighbourhoods, which means there is very
  limited access to public services. Where measures
  are taken, this is mainly through EC and other
  donor-funded projects. Major urbanisation
  projects are under way in Sofia and Plovdiv. Few
  municipalities in Bulgaria have approved
  strategic plans for regional development where
  projects for legalising the illegal Roma housing
  and the urbanisation of Roma quarters are
  included.

45
BG and Roma

• Problems remain as regards access to the
  health care system. Not all of the Roma
  population is aware of the procedures and the
  need to have health insurance. Financial
  contributions required from the patients, no
  matter how small, are often too high.
  Participation in education remains poor. Poverty
  is one of the factors in this, as families cannot
  provide their children with basic items for
  school or children have to help with income
  generation. Out of Roma children who do enter
  school, very few go on to secondary education.

46
BG and Roma

• As reported last year, schools in Roma areas
  remain in practice segregated and offer
  low-quality education and poor facilities. Roma
  make up about 32 of children in special''
  schools and 21 of children in labour education
  schools. Efforts need to be made to combat
  segregation and encourage integration. Whilst
  some initiatives are underway through donors to
  address segregation, this is not yet in practice
  a Government policy.

47
BG and Roma

• Unemployment is unusually high among Roma,
  exceeding a shocking 90 percent in some areas.
  Moreover, only one percent of them have higher
  education, 36 percent have reached only primary
  education, 40 percent have secondary education,
  and 16 percent of them are totally illiterate,
  according to official data dating from 1998. More
  recent surveys indicate that 80 percent of the
  Gypsies in Bulgaria have only primary education
  or are illiterate.
• At the same time, secondary education is free for
  all Bulgarian citizens, no matter of their ethnic
  origin, and while other minorities living in the
  country, such as Turks, Jews and Armenians, are
  well integrated in society, this is not the case
  with the Roma.
• Huge amounts of money are allocated for their
  integration into society from various programs
  and organizationsnational, international,
  governmental and privateand while these projects
  surely achieve some relatively positive results,
  Roma still fail to live well with the rest of
  society, and often claim to be subject to
  discrimination.

48
BG and Roma

• Many Roma men work as non-skilled construction
  workers in the summer. But many young students
  and all kinds of unemployed people do the same as
  well. And while students earn pocket money and
  then go on holiday at the Black Sea coast, and
  while other unemployed people save money to feed
  their families, Roma people just continue to beg
  in the streets of all major Bulgarian
  townswaiting for you in front of churches or
  museums, restaurants and bars, shops or
  administrative buildings, and a polite denial for
  giving them money sometimes does not work.

49
BG and Roma

• According to an opinion poll conducted among
  non-Roma Bulgarians, less then one percent of
  them can imagine marrying a person of Roma
  origin, and less then ten percent of them would
  welcome Gypsy neighbors next door. If this
  negative attitude is really due to prejudice, the
  solving of this problem would not be easy either.
  As interesting proof to this statement could
  serve the number of widely used Bulgarian idioms,
  such as "you lie like an old Gypsy" or "you snore
  like a Gypsy's horse." Even the popcorns at the
  bottom of the microwave packet that have failed
  to burst are called "Gypsies." And Bulgarians
  have the notion of "Gypsy's work" which comes to
  say that a certain thing is not well done.

50
BG and Roma

• Well, it will not surprise anybody in Bulgaria
  that Roma people have a similar notion-they say
  "Bulgarian work" and the phrase has a negative
  context, according to an interview of Nikolay
  Kirilov, the leader of the Roma organization in
  the town of Lom, by a weekly national newspaper.

51
BG and Roma

• Obviously, Bulgaria has a very serious problem
  with its Roma minority. The international image
  of the country will continue to be taunted by the
  striking misery of the Gypsies and by the reports
  of discrimination, unequal opportunity and
  intolerance against them, unless the situation
  visibly improves. And unlike other many other
  social problems that Bulgaria faces, resolving
  this does not depend only on the government.
  Society, with all its ethnic groups, needs to
  change in order to diminish the huge gaps that
  set aside the Roma from the rest of the people.
• One thing that is clear is the current situation
  within a large group equaling as much as ten
  percent of the whole population, living in misery
  separately from the others, should be resolved as
  early as possible. But who needs to change first,
  Bulgarians or Roma? And how should this change be
  encouraged, when it is often stated that Roma
  people have a specific culture that should be
  preserved, and when, at the other end, Bulgarians
  don't really care about Roma welfare, often
  thinking of them as of second-hand people.

52
BG and Roma

• On the other hand, the funds that the Government
  invests in order to secure the reaching of the
  aims of the Framework Program are more than
  modest there are no data for 19992001 on the
  funds allocated for its implementation. According
  to estimates, the Government spent about 30 EUR
  per Roma capita for all Roma problems
  elimination of unemployment, improvement of the
  living conditions, improvement of the health
  status, securing equal access to qualitative
  education, etc. For 2004 the government had
  provided to spent about 35 EUR per Roma capita
  for the same goals. It is clear that on the
  background of the needs of the Roma, the amount
  of this money is extremely small. Furthermore,
  the Bulgarian State does not spend its own money
  for achieving the aims of the Framework Program.
  It is a well-known fact that almost all the
  funds, which the state spends, come from foreign
  sources. For political reasons the state avoids
  to take money directly from its own domestic
  incomes. And this has been the sustainable policy
  of all Bulgarian governments after 1989.

53
BG and Roma

• There is political commitment from the
  government to remedy their problems, but more
  effort must be put into translating this into
  concrete action and major efforts and resources
  will be required to reverse the situation of
  discrimination, poor living conditions, economic
  hardship, chronic unemployment, poor health care,
  appalling housing conditions and lack of
  effective access to education. Also there are
  practices in access to social support and health
  care where particular eligibility criteria can
  have a discriminatory effect, making it difficult
  in practice for Roma to gain access to social
  support. A precondition for non-contributory
  health services is access to social support, so
  this also affects access to health services.

54
BG and Roma

• Since the welcome adoption of the framework
  programme for the integration of Roma into
  society, some progress has been made but in
  general implementation of the programme has been
  progressing slowly, so the short-term Accession
  Partnership has been only partially met until
  now.
• If the Framework Programme is to be effectively
  implemented, institutional and administrative
  strengthening of the National Council on Ethnic
  and Demographic Issues (NCEDI) is essential.
  Whilst some appointments of well-qualified people
  were made, this is insufficient. Roma
  representation in the public administration at
  central level is very limited.

55
BG and Roma

• One more positive development is that some NGOs
  have pursued projects on desegregation of Roma
  schools.
• Very little further progress has been made to
  meet the Accession Partnership priority to start
  implementation of the Roma Framework Programme,
  and to strengthen the National Council on Ethnic
  and Demographic Issues.
• Though there had been a promising start on
  judicial reform, this needed to be translated
  into the political will to draw up a strategy for
  reform that could be driven forward by means of
  an integrated action plan. "It is important to
  avoid a piecemeal approach."

56
BG and Roma

• Conclusion
• The Roma problem might be resolved by
  adopting an integrated approach, ensuring
  legislation was properly implemented and backing
  the whole process up with clear information
  campaigns that could help change the public
  mentality.
• There are no easy solutions to the Roma problem.
  Probably the main cause of their social exclusion
  is their poverty. But it is important not to view
  the Roma as an isolated issue. Policy makers have
  to be clear that this is a common task for all
  Bulgarians to solve, and pressure from the EU had
  been an important factor in the search for change.

57
Roma

• Roma