The request for "serious policies of solidarity, welcome and integration"; the proposal for a "special European citizenship" for the Rom: those are the indications included in a letter sent to the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and to the Italian ministers of the Interior, of Foreign Affairs, and Community Policies by three MEPs. The message comes from Strasbourg, where the plenary assembly of the European Union is going on, and where a resolution on the Rom issue is going to be voted tomorrow. The text was signed by Iles Braghetto, Carlo Casini, and Michl Ebner. The goal of the letter is "to pay a contribution to the current debate at the European parliament, about the orders concerning the gypsy communities in some Italian regions: Lombardy, Campania and Lazio". In the document, the accusations of racism addressed to the Italian government are rejected. Then, "the duties of solidarity, respect for the weakest people, and for children, above all" are confirmed. Furthermore, they launch the proposal that the Rom may be granted "a sort of special European citizenship, not founded on the concepts of State and territorial belonging, but on the acknowledgement of a people which has been present in our Continent for thousands of years".
