"Very few member states are really working to remove biases against the Romanies. This also happens in countries that have more advanced legislations". Livia Jaroka has been a MEP since 2004: a Hungarian of Romany origin, she works to protect the rights of minorities, starting from those of the "travelling" peoples who, since the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, have become the largest minority in the 27 member states of the EU (8 million people have been estimated). She explains to SIR (interview online from tonight at old.agensir.it): "For a Romany community to fit in, children must be given education, adults must be given jobs and the opportunity to look after the sick and the old. And above all we must really open up to diversity, which, apart from proclamations, does not exist in the European countries. The European societies generally do not respect diversity, even less that of the Romanies". The MEP specifies that "the main problem of minority groups is survival". This is why they "choose to leave" their homelands, that are often former communist countries, "to go to countries that seem more suitable" for living. (continued)
