Romania: Vera Egenberger, Executive Director for the ERRC

Vera Egenberger, is Executive Director for the ERRC, the European Roma Rights Centre, and an expert in human rights, anti-racism and anti-discrimination issues. Previously she has worked for the European Network against Racism (ENAR), Brussels, from 1999 to 2005.

In Italy there has recently been an outcry against the influx of immigrants from Romania. Many believe that Italy cannot cope with such pressure and that the only real solution is to encourage people not to leave their native country, Do you know of any civil society organisations in Romania that work to provide the conditions that would stop people from leaving Romania?
(She laughs) No! I don?t think you will find anyone in civil society who would say people should stay or that they should leave. People have the right of freedom of movement so it is impossible to encourage them either way. The ERRC is very aware of this right and for this reason is rather careful when taking up a position in this issue. Many factors must be considered when dealing with migration issues, and you cannot just ignore the right to freedom of movement, it is after all a EU fundamental principle. Romania is a European Union country now and this cannot be ignored, not by the EU and not by anyone else, although this seems to be the case sometimes.

But by improving the socio-economic opportunities nationally, is it not fair to say that the likelihood of people leaving is reduced?
Only if the reasons for their leaving are tied to socio-economic factors or if they are moving to look for employment. If that is the case then of course it would change the situation, but this is not always so, sometimes people move because they want to travel, or for other reasons. It is a very complex situation and it isn?t easy to make one statement to sum up all of the factors.

The Roma people are perhaps Europe?s largest minority. At a European institutional level, who looks after their rights and deals with their issues?
There is no specific agency, although there is an inter-service group that is attempting to coordinate the activities of the European Union. They take care of movement, of non discrimination, education and poverty, and generally of all social issues that affect the Roma. But they are not a specific agency; they are a group of people who are trying to channel information at a European level.

And what role do you think the EU should be playing?
I think the EU should be monitoring the situation very closely. The voices that are being heard from Italy that say that Romanian people should not be allowed to enter Italy go against all EU principles, in particular the principle that guarantees freedom of movement. The EU has the duty to uphold all EU principles and if not there must be a very good reason not to do so. It is up to the EU to ensure that all people?s rights are respected,

What steps can civil society both in Italy and Romania take to try and improve the situation?
First the problems must be identified separately. There seem to be issues with criminality, there seem to be issues with migration, there seem to be issues with non integration, there may be issues with discrimination and perception. Each of these needs a specific strategy. What I find very concerning is that every thing seems to be put into one pot and mixed up, which can be very very dangerous. If we cannot see the different strands within the situation we might just be ?shooting a small bird with a large cannon? as we say in German. What I mean is that inappropriate measures may be taken to achieve something that will then trigger the exact opposite. At this moment I don?t think either politicians or civil society are clear about what this may mean or about what the right mechanisms are to tackle this.

Are there any good practices or case studies that come to mind that may serve as examples?
There is very little. Romania is in many senses very young, as it became a fully fledged EU member at the beginning of the year. It was marked from the start by problems that countries like Spain and Italy perceived and where the media also had a large part to play in oversimplifying what in reality is a very complex situation. The examples that I have seen so far cannot be considered good practice because they aim to limit freedom and expression and do not tackle the situation adequately.

Are there any interesting websites that you can suggest to our readers?
www.romanicriss.org

More info:
www.errc.org