Sofia, April 8, 2010 – Bulgarian government representatives, policy makers, international partners and Roma civil society members have celebrated the Fifth Anniversary of Roma Decade Launch in Sofia today. The event, co-organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the World Bank and the Open Society Institute, was focused on Bulgaria’s achievements in the implementation of the Roma Decade goals. The conference was attended also by the US and a number of EU ambassadors. The discussion was focussed on Bulgaria’s inclusion progress in areas as employment, health, education, living conditions, anti discrimination and culture.
The Minister of Labor and Social Policies Totyu Mladenov opened the event emphasizing the importance of Roma inclusion. Opening addresses were also sent by the Bulgarian President and the Chair of the Parliament.
"At the launch of the Decade, here in Sofia, the then-president of the World Bank James Wolfensohn characterized the initiative as “an historic event which marks the first concerted attempt to tackle the centuries-old issues of exclusion, discrimination, and lack of opportunities which have plagued Roma in Europe”, the Country Manager of the World Bank for Bulgaria Florian Fichtl said at the opening. He stressed out that the Decade of Roma Inclusion has raised the awareness of Roma exclusion in Europe, has brought together governments, Roma civil society, the European Commission and other stakeholders in a mechanism for policy coordination, peer learning and monitoring.
The World Bank is preparing a new study, called the “Economic Costs of Roma Exclusion”to measure the economic consequence of Roma exclusion and the potential of inclusion. The preliminary findings of this study were announced at the Sofia event, on the same day they were officially presented at the EU Roma Summit in Cordoba on the occasion of April 8, the international Roma Day. The analysis in this study, carried out for Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, and Serbia, shows that these four countries combined would be enjoying an increase in GDP by at least 2 billion Euros annually, if Roma had employment opportunities like the rest of the population. Similarly, government revenues would be at least 900 million Euros per year higher.
