Introduction

The origins of Roma communities and their arrival in Europe were discussed in Chapter One. It has been estimated that Europe has a Gypsy, Roma and Traveller population of between 10 and 12 million people (Fundamental Rights Agency, 2010). They are Europe's largest minority ethnic group but their predicament presents one of the greatest challenges to the achievement of European ideals on equality and justice. According to a recent European Parliament report:

Another disturbing indicator of the level of marginalisation endured by Roma is the degree of xenophobia directed at this group in both the East and West of Europe, ranging from the mass fingerprinting of Roma including minors in Italy (ERRC, 2008) to blanket deportations in France without individual consideration and in defiance of EU free movement conventions (ERRC, 2010) and including modern-day pogroms in countries such as Bulgaria (ERRC, 2011c). A number of countries such as Hungary have witnessed the rise of far-right groups that are reviving the hate speech and even symbols of fascism, leading to the scapegoating of Roma (ERRC, 2009). Violent attacks targeting Roma communities have intensified. In Hungary, nine lives, including two children, were lost in a campaign of racist and orchestrated terror (ERRC, 2011d).

A number of programmes have been adopted on Roma issues by the Council of Europe and the EU since the 1980s; an early focus was on improving educational outcomes for this minority (Liégeois, 2007). Following the Copenhagen European Council in 1993, the EU increasingly emphasised the importance of protecting ethnic and national minorities as a norm and as a political precondition for the accession of Central and Eastern European candidate member states.