The First EU Roma Summit took place in Brussels on 16 September bringing together some 400 representatives of EU institutions, national governments, parliaments and civil society, including Roma organisations. The meeting discussed the situation of Roma communities in the EU and ways to improve it. The European Commission together with the French Presidency of the EU organised this event as a follow-up to the Commission’s July 2008 Report on EU Instruments and Policies for Roma Inclusion. The Summit was organized as the next step in the process to support and promote a joint commitment to support non-discrimination in general and improve the situation of Roma in particular by the Member States, the EU institutions and civil society.

During the Summit, The EU Roma Policy Coalition (ERPC), an informal gathering of NGOs working on different aspects of discrimination against Roma people, "called on the European Commission to refrain from preaching empty words and come up with concrete strategies to tackle the problems faced by Europe's Roma population." (see http://roma.wieni.be/home )

Roma representatives also criticized EU executive body's recent failure to condemn Italy over new security measures to fingerprint the country’s Roma community; a policy that human rights groups denounce as discriminatory against Roma.

The results of the debates and conclusions of the Summit should be submitted to the French Presidency for further consideration in the Council of Ministers ahead of the December 2008 European Council meeting of EU leaders.

In December 2007, EU leaders acknowledged for the first time that the Roma face a very specific situation across the EU and called upon Member States and the Union to use all means to improve their inclusion.

In January 2008, the European Parliament adopted a Resolution on a European strategy to improve the position of the 10 million Roma people living in the EU.

In the resolution, MEPs warned against the 'Anti-Gypsyism or Romaphobia still widespread in Europe' and called for EU anti-discrimination measures and renewed efforts to integrate Roma through positive measures in housing, health, education and employment. The Parliament also condemned the substandard and unsanitary living conditions and wide scale 'ghettoisation' of Romani people and urged the Commission to put an end to Romani slums in those Member States where they exist by developing successful and positive housing for Roma, including Romani migrants.

The Commission’s July 2008 Report is available via:

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/fundamental_rights/pdf/pubst/poldoc/csw_en.pdf