Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2013)460 - Effective Roma integration measures in the Member States - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2013)460 - Effective Roma integration measures in the Member States. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2013)460  |
| date | 26-06-2013 |
Many Roma in Europe face prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion in their daily lives. They are marginalised and mostly live in very bad socio-economic conditions. On average, only one in two Roma children attend pre-school or kindergarten; participation in education drops considerably after compulsory school with only 15% of young Roma adults completing upper-secondary education; on average, fewer than one in three Roma report to be in employment; 20 % are not covered by health insurance and 90 % are living below the poverty line[1]. This undermines social cohesion and sustainable human development, hampers competitiveness and generates costs for society as a whole. Discrimination of the Roma is also incompatible with the values upon which the EU is founded. The crux of the problem lies in the close links between discrimination and social exclusion experienced by Roma.
On 5 April 2011, the Commission adopted an EU Framework for national Roma integration strategies up to 2020[2]. The European Council endorsed it in June 2011. It expressed the EU’s political will to address the situation of Roma.
With this Framework, the European Commission aims to ensure that Member States adopt an effective approach to Roma integration and endorse goals on the four pillars of education, employment, health and housing.
Under the Framework, the Commission must report annually on progress made by the Member States. In 2012, it assessed for the first time the national strategies presented by the Member States and adopted horizontal conclusions — COM(2012) 226 final — and specific indications on the strengths and weaknesses of each Member State’s strategy — SWD(2012)133 final.
One year on, the Commission’s report focuses on the progress the Member States have made in ensuring that several pre-conditions are in place for successfully implementing the national strategies. These pre-conditions include involving regional and local authorities, working closely with civil society, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the strategies, including by reinforcing the role of the National Roma Contact Points, allocating the necessary funding, stepping up the fight against discrimination and mainstreaming it into other policies. In its assessment, the Commission took into consideration input from civil society and other stakeholders.
Building on the conclusions of this report and on the Commission’s 2012 progress report[3], the proposal for a Council Recommendation aims to speed up progress by focusing the attention of the Member States on a number of concrete measures that are crucial for implementing their strategies more effectively.
The proposal for a Council recommendation is based on the 2011 and 2012 Commission communications i and on the 2011 Council Conclusions on Roma inclusion[5]. It aims to provide guidance to Member States in enhancing the effectiveness of their measures to achieve Roma integration and to strengthen the implementation of their national Roma integration strategies or sets of policy measures to improve the situation of Roma, in line with the challenges faced by Member States according to the respective size and situation of their Roma population. It reinforces the EU Framework with a non-binding legal instrument in order to make it easier for Member States to turn their commitments into reality. The Recommendation specifically covers:
· specific targeted action, building on best practices, to strengthen Roma integration in full respect of the principle of subsidiarity and without duplicating existing EU legislation. This is the case for education, employment, health and housing;
· horizontal issues that are essential for putting into practice Roma integration policies and for securing their sustainability. These particularly include the fight against discrimination and stereotyping; the protection of children and women; the adoption of a social investment approach; the collection of information on the situation of Roma to monitor the impact of policies; the translation of national commitments into local action; the support of the work of bodies that promote equal treatment of Roma; the reinforcement of the resources and capacities of the National Roma Contact Points and the development of transnational cooperation;
· general principles of securing the transparent and appropriate allocation of funds to Roma inclusion (not only EU but also national and local funds). Overall recommendations on EU funding are based on the experience of the current programming period and on the proposed Regulation on common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.
While primary responsibility for Roma integration rests with national public authorities, it remains a challenge given that the social and economic integration of Roma is a two-way process which requires a change of mindsets of the majority of the people as well as of members of the Roma communities
Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union
Equality is one of the Union's founding values and core aims under Article 2 TEU.
Moreover, Article 3 TEU enshrines the combat against social exclusion and discrimination as one of the Union's aims.
In accordance with Article 8 TFEU, the EU aims to eliminate inequalities, and promote equality, between men and women in all its activities. Article 10 TFEU states that ‘in defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall aim to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation’.
Finally, Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union particularly prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin among other grounds.
The proposal is consistent with existing secondary legislation in the field of anti-discrimination in so far as it complements the established legal framework. Council Directive 2000/43/EC implements the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin and sets out a binding framework by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of racial or ethnic origin throughout the EU in the areas of employment and training, education, social protection (including social security and healthcare), social advantages and access to goods and services (including housing). It prohibits direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and instruction to discriminate. All EU Member States have transposed this Directive into national legislation. The European Commission checks that the Directive is correctly implemented and will publish a report on its implementation in 2013.
Contents
The proposal is based on the work that took place during two meetings of a group of Member States set up in 2012 in the context of the network of National Roma Contact Points[6]. The meetings, held on 7-8 November and 6-7 December 2012, and to which participation was on a voluntary basis, produced fruitful discussions between the Member States on a number of issues considered crucial to boost Roma inclusion.
In line with the EU Framework, Member States were requested to submit National Roma Integration Strategies by the end of 2011. All Member States fulfilled their commitments in this respect and the national Roma integration strategies were published on the Commission's website to be accessible for all citizens. The Commission received a wide range of contributions from various stakeholders, including civil society, on the strategies themselves and more recently on their implementation[7], including during a dialogue between Commissioners and civil society representatives on 15 May 2013.
In addition, regular meetings took place with the representatives of European umbrella Roma organisations[8] on the challenges and most important issues required at all levels to actively promote Roma inclusion.
Given the number of contributions received in this framework, the Commission considered that no further public consultation was necessary specifically on the Recommendation.
A proposal for a Council Recommendation must link its content to a policy area of the Treaties. Such a link is also necessary to determine the adoption rules of the act (unanimity or qualified majority).
According to settled Court of Justice case law, the choice of a legal basis must be based on objective criteria that can be judicially reviewed, including in particular the aim and content of the measure in question[9].
Article 292 TFEU sets out the Council’s mandate to adopt recommendations. It reads as follows:
‘The Council shall adopt recommendations. It shall act on a proposal from the Commission in all cases where the Treaties provide that it shall adopt acts on a proposal from the Commission. It shall act unanimously in those areas in which unanimity is required for the adoption of a Union act. The Commission, and the European Central Bank in the specific cases provided for in the Treaties, shall adopt recommendations.’
The EU’s right to act in matters of anti-discrimination, notably with regard to discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin, stems from Article 19(1) TFEU. This provision is the legal basis for any binding and non-binding measures to combat discriminatory acts and practices. It reads as follows:
‘1. Without prejudice to the other provisions of the Treaties and within the limits of the powers conferred by them upon the Union, the Council, acting unanimously in accordance with a special legislative procedure and after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament, may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.’
Article 292 TFEU is therefore to be read together with the appropriate legal basis for the substance of the proposal, namely Article 19(1) TFEU.
According to the principle of subsidiarity, the EU shall act only if and insofar as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States (necessity test), but can rather, either by reason of its scale or effects, be better achieved at EU level (test of EU added value).
The measures introduced by some Member States vary broadly in terms of scope and effectiveness and many Member States have not taken specific action in the area of Roma inclusion. According to the conclusions of the 2013 progress report on the implementation of the National Roma Integration Strategies[10], the Commission took note that while Member States have had the legal possibility to act to address the issue of Roma integration, the measures planned so far are not sufficient. Due to the lack of a coordinated approach to the issue of Roma integration, there are growing discrepancies among Member States.
Scattered, divergent regulation at national level is also bound to exacerbate the situation by creating further practical problems between Member States. Indeed, tackling the issue of Roma integration in an uncoordinated manner has proven to be inefficient in the European Union as a whole, where the free movement of citizens is guaranteed. This situation could result in a significant increase of Roma migrants in Member States where living conditions are more favourable and where social inclusion measures for the disadvantaged people are more favourable.
In this regard, the present proposal aims to supplement existing EU action in the areas concerned (i.e.: free movement of citizens Directive 2004/38/EC, racial discrimination Directive 2000/43/EC) in view of achieving more efficient results by better coordinating the measures to be adopted by the Member States.
The objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States on their own and may therefore be better achieved through coordinated action at EU level rather than through national initiatives of varying scope, ambition and effectiveness.
According to the principle of proportionality, the content and form of EU action shall not exceed what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaties. As past experience shows, in spite of some progress achieved in the Member States and at EU level over the past few years, little has changed in the day-to-day situation of most Roma. According to the Commission’s findings, strong and proportionate measures are still not in place to tackle the social and economic problems of much of the EU’s Roma population.
In line with the proportionality principle, the non-binding proposal is limited to setting common objectives and recommending specific measures, including positive action measures specifically provided for under Article 5 of Directive 2000/43/EC to prevent or compensate for disadvantages linked to racial or ethnic origin under the conditions developed in the case law of the CJEU in the area of sex discrimination[11]. This gives Member States enough leeway to determine how to best achieve these common objectives at national level, taking into account national, regional or local circumstances.
The proposal will not impede on the Member States' competence to deal with the issue of the social inclusion of disadvantaged communities, like the Roma, as it does not impose rigid obligations. It merely recommends several options to Member States, leaving them determine the appropriate way of achieving the objectives set out.
The choice of a non-binding instrument aims at providing practical guidelines to the Member States as regards the problem of Roma social inclusion, but without laying down strict binding rules.
The choice for a Council recommendation aims at reinforcing the existing political commitments of Member States while ensuring consistent minimum standards in the European Union in the implementation of effective national Roma strategies. It also strengthens transnational cooperation, while allowing a sufficient margin of manoeuvre to Member States on the forms and methods.
The proposal has no implications for the EU’s budget.