Roma in an Expanding Europe: Challenges for the Future
by Dena Ringold

Roma—or "Gypsies," a unique minority that migrated in waves from northern India to Europe between the 9th and 14th centuries and dispersed across nearly all the countries of Europe and Central Asia—have historically been among the poorest people in Europe. However, in the former socialist countries, their living conditions have deteriorated even further since regime change. Most Roma had jobs during the socialist era, but with the radical economic changes in these countries they were the first to become unemployed, and together with their families regressed into deep poverty.

Because of their higher birth rates, the relative size of the Roma population is increasing throughout the CEE countries. Therefore policies to address poverty among the Roma need to be an integral component of countries’ economic and social development strategies, especially of those that are joining the EU. Against this socioeconomic backdrop, the World Bank and the Open Society Institute, together with the European Commission, organized a conference in Budapest between June 29 and July 1, 2003, titled "Roma in an Expanding Europe: Challenges for the Future," hosted by the prime minister of Hungary.

Before the conference, the World Bank launched a study: "Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle" that summarizes some basic facts as follows:

• Roma are the largest and most rapidly growing minority in Europe (see map on page 27) and the main poverty risk group in CEE. The total Roma population of Europe is estimated at 7 to 9 million. They will represent roughly 2 percent of the 450 million people in the enlarged EU once 10 new member states join the EU in 2004. Approximately 6 million Roma live in the CEE countries and nearly 5 million in the EU candidate countries. The Roma population is significantly younger than the majority populations in the countries in which they live. Currently between 25 and 30 percent of Roma are under 15 years of age, in contrast with 10 percent for the majority population.

• Roma poverty is multifaceted, stemming from low education levels, inadequate housing, and poor health status, leading to a vicious cycle of poverty and exclusion. Roma live in deep poverty even in the more prosperous CEE countries, with Roma poverty rates sometimes being more than 10 times those of non-Roma. In 2000, nearly 80 percent of Roma in Bulgaria and Romania were living on less than $4.30 per day (calculated on purchasing power parity of the currency), compared with 37 percent of the total population of Bulgaria and 30 percent of the Romanian population (see the figure). Even in Hungary, 40 percent of Roma were below this line, in comparison with 7 percent of the total population.

• Roma were often the first to be laid off from jobs in the early 1990s, and have been among those most persistently blocked from re-entering the labor force. In 1993 in Hungary, Roma accounted for 26 percent of the labor force, compared with 63 percent for the general population. In 1999, 70 percent of Roma in the Czech Republic were unemployed.

• Many Roma children do not attend school and many study in segregated schools. They are over-represented in special schools intended for physically and mentally handicapped children. One-fifth of Roma children in Hungary attend such schools. The situation is similar, or even worse, in other countries. Less than 1 percent of Roma in CEE countries continue on to any kind of postsecondary education.

• Roma face a lower life expectancy than the populations of the countries in which they live. The estimated life expectancy of Roma is 10 years less than that of the majority population in CEE countries.

• Social and cultural factors affect access to and interactions with social service providers. Because of language barriers, Roma may have difficulty communicating with teachers, understanding doctors, and maneuvering through local welfare offices. Poor communication and stubborn stereotypes among both Roma and non-Roma breed mistrust and reinforce preconceptions on both sides.

The challenge of engendering economic and social development among Roma represents one of the most critical outstanding issues on the agenda of CEE countries as they prepare for EU membership, and one they share with existing EU member states, including France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. They have much to contribute to an enlarging Europe, and cannot be left behind.

During the conference, governments of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, FYR Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Monetenegro, and Slovakia agreed to launch the Decade of Roma Inclusion starting in 2005. During this decade, countries will provide their Roma populations with increased economic opportunities and better education and health status and promote their empowerment and participation by strengthening communities and families. The recent past is littered with projects and programs that, however well intentioned, failed because they were designed and implemented without the intended beneficiaries’ involvement. Such failures range from housing projects that built apartments unsuitable for Roma to social assistance programs that provided Roma with goods they did not want.

In order to move ahead and measure results, good data need to be collected and analyzed with strong Roma involvement. Policymakers and project managers need to know how policies affect Roma, that is, how they influence school attendance, health conditions, access to social welfare benefits and services, and so on. Data must also be available to hold public services accountable for their performance.

Education is the key to breaking the poverty cycle and ensuring that no Roma child lags behind. The correct policies could quickly boost Roma participation in schools, help Roma students to stay in school and graduate, and improve the quality of the education they receive. That in turn requires expanding access to preschool education, involving parents in education and in the classroom, and increasing opportunities for Roma children to attend mainstream schools. The conference agreed to set up the Roma Education Fund, which would support the scaling up of some successful pilot initiatives and would strengthen partnerships between the NGOs that are implementing them and the governments that are supporting them.

Through better education, Roma will be able to find a wider range of jobs, assuming that discrimination in hiring Roma is eliminated. Roma should also be provided with opportunities to expand their skills, access microcredit, and start their own businesses. Promising examples from Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia were presented at the conference. For example, the Pakiv European Roma Fund (pakiv means trust in the Romani language) has begun to support small-scale employment projects in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. It has trained young Roma leaders to initiate local development projects in their communities, start vocational training programs, and establish community centers and has set up funds for financing small-scale agricultural projects.

To prepare for the launch of the Decade of Roma Inclusion and the Roma Education Fund and to monitor their implementation, the prime ministers and heads of delegations at the conference agreed to set up a joint working group under their direct supervision and invited the World Bank and other organizers to become partners in this endeavor. The Bank would primarily play a support role by helping the countries to develop the details of the initiatives. The Open Society Institute has committed to playing a similar role, and the EU is also invited to support these initiatives. Hungary offered to take the lead during this first year, with the presidency to be rotated among the participating CEE countries. All agreed to meet again in 12 to15 months to get ready for the formal launch of the decade and the fund in 2005.

The author is Senior Economist, Human Development Sector Unit, the World Bank. The related document is available from http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/ECA/ECSHD.nsf/Ext ECADocByUnid/3B1AFD4257085BE0C256CEC0035F8DC? Opendocument)