Thursday

8th Jun 2023

EU Commission skirts Italy sanctions on Roma evictions

The European Commission has not seen enough evidence of discrimination against the Roma in Italy to launch legal action, despite years of documented abuse.

The admission follows the forced eviction on Thursday (26 July) of some 300 Roma in a government-run camp in the outskirts of the Italian capital - in direct violation of an injunction order by the European Court of Human Rights.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini, is targeting minorities (Photo: European Parliament)

Around 100, including small children, are now reported homeless.

Mina Andreeva, a commission spokeswoman, told reporters in Brussels on Friday it is up to national anti-discrimination authorities to follow up on complaints and to come forward with "concrete evidence".

"Only if it is a systemic breach can we go into an infringement procedure," she said.

She noted the commission has launched sanctions against some member states on similar Roma issues.

"Whenever EU law is not respected, we don't hesitate to launch infringement proceedings, that is why we have the yearly reporting," she said.

But NGOs including Amnesty International have since 2012 been pressing the European Commission to take action against Italy for violating the EU's race equality directive given the state of affairs with its some 170,000 Roma population.

"Basically they [the commission] did open an investigation and have more than enough evidence to launch legal action," Catrinel Motoc, Amnesty Internationals Senior Campaigner on Europe, told this website.

"There seems to be political pressure and recently Amnesty has filed a complaint with the EU Ombudsman alleging maladministration," she said.

The Financial Times in April 2017 said a commission paper demanding sanctions against Italy over the poor treatment of Roma was also binned following pressure from senior commission officials.

The European Commission, when asked to confirm the existence of the shelved report cited in the Financial Times article, did not deny or confirm it.

Instead, it said it had in 2016 "explicitly raised the issue of housing problems in Italy by pointing that the situation has not fundamentally changed" and that evictions should be accompanied by an offer of adequate alternative social housing.

The move to bin the document was reportedly made to prevent a further escalation of tensions with Rome ahead of national elections, which has since catapulted Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right anti-immigrant League party, to interior minister.

A brash politician, Salvini last month declared "a mass cleansing street by street, piazza by piazza, neighbourhood by neighbourhood" of the Roma.

He also demanded an ethnic census of the minority, which was rejected, and regretted not being able to kick out those with Italian citizenship from the country.

Vera Jourova, the EU justice commissioner, described Salvini's "mass cleansing" comments as regretful and "totally unacceptable", noting that Italy had in 2011 agreed to implement a broad EU policy for the integration of the Roma.

According to Amnesty International, the most recent eviction of Roma from the Italian capital had been made shortly after a meeting between Salvini and the mayor of Rome.

This article was updated on 30 July 2018 at 13:14 to include a response from the European Commission regarding the Financial Times article.

EU's Roma policy struggles to produce results

Vera Jourova, the EU commissioner for justice, is seeking more "practical" solutions to address the issue of Roma integration as she begins to rework the policy and rethink its spending.

Policy input goes online after coronavirus hits Roma Week

The European Commission is preparing a new post-2020 EU policy on Roma inclusion as part of "A Strong Social Europe for Transition". This new EU Roma inclusion policy is scheduled to take effect in the final quarter of 2020.

Opinion

What Salvini teaches us about Operation Sophia

It seems as if the EU and some member states are trying to 'sell' European external action in Italy, Austria, Poland and Hungary as a key to solving internal issues – and thus pulling these missions into today's populist debates.

Latest News

  1. Europeans don't see China as a rival, but weapons to Russia is a red line
  2. Cleaning workers urge Parliament: "Europe should lead by example"
  3. Final push for EU-Mercosur deal, amid deforestation fears
  4. Ministers given 50/50 chance of reaching EU asylum deal
  5. EU Commission wants better focus on mental health care
  6. Right of Reply from the Hungarian government
  7. True scale of horror in today's Belarus hard to comprehend
  8. Israeli settlers encircling Jerusalem, EU envoys warn

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us