SOLIDARITY WITH THE ROMA - MINORITIES AS BRIDGE-BUILDERS
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Federal Union of European Nationalities
Föderalistische Union Europäischer Volksgruppen
ФEДЕРАЛИСТСКИЙ СОЮЗ ЕВРОПЕЙСКИХ НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫХ МЕНЬШИНСТВ
Union Fédéraliste des Communautés Ethniques Européennes
SOLIDARITY WITH THE ROMA -
MINORITIES AS BRIDGE-BUILDERS
“Time and history do not work towards simple-mindedness, but instead
towards intellectual diversity; for a European society where the human dignity
of each individual citizen is a condition for the human dignity of all citizens;
a European society where all situations in which man is an oppressed,
abandoned, abject creature shall be changed.
That’s European!”
(Heinz Winfried Sabais (1922-1981), former mayor of the town of Darmstadt and president of the P.E.N.-
association in Germany, at the European Culture Congress of Europa Union Germany in 1979)
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Executive Summary
All strategies to improve the economic and social position of the Roma
require underpinning and accompanying measures to increase the
More participation in acceptance and social participation of the numerically largest minority of
society Europe. The autochthonous national minorities united in the Federal Union
of European Nationalities (FUEN) want to contribute to this.
People belonging to minorities have show to have a specific social and
Minorities as bridge- intercultural competence, which make them fit to act as intermediaries and
builders bridge-builders to the minorities. In alliance and cooperation with other
minorities the Roma will experience more acceptance from the part of the
majority population, they will develop a strengthened awareness of self-
esteem and will be encouraged to become active in the workings of state
and society.
The solidarity amongst the minorities that we aim at is not only relevant
Minorities embody for the Roma population. It will enhance the reputation of all minorities
added value and the perception of them within the total population, because it offers a
contribution to solve a concrete problematic situation and makes it clear
that minorities embody an added value for the society as a whole!
The methodology is based on building trust through getting to know and
Minorities help understand one another, which is made easier because both sides come
minorities from a minority situation. Minorities help minorities through exchanging
their own experiences and backgrounds and best-practice experiences from
their often long and difficult journey from the fringes to the centre of society.
The focus of the encounter between Roma and other minorities in the
framework of a “Democracy Project” is on:
- Promotion of a feeling of self-esteem and self-confidence,
- Encouragement of emancipation and empowerment,
Main focus - Enhancing social reputation,
- Overcoming isolation and segregation,
- Development of cooperation structures,
- Inclusion of the Roma in political and social life and their
- active participation in it on an equal footing with the majority
population.
These goals are given concrete shape by measures on local and regional
Support through specific, level. The main emphasis is on projects in the fields of education, schools
concrete projects and culture, and training and schooling based on infrastructural measures
in the framework of youth encounters and in the agricultural field.
Participants who participate in the “Democracy Project” assume the role of
Mediators mediators and contribute to the utilisation of the things they have learnt in
the day to day life of the Roma.
www.fuen.org 3Solidarity with the Roma- Minorities as bridge-builders
1. Necessity of civil-society commitment
Many of the ten to twelve million Roma in Europe are confronted with
Situation of the Roma as prejudices, discrimination, intolerance and social exclusion in their everyday
challenge at all levels life. Their living situation is not just a challenge for Europe as a community
of justice, values and solidarity. Notwithstanding the primary responsibility
of their individual home states it is also a serious issue for internal peace
and social cohesion on our continent and a task that has to be solved as a
matter of priority.
Even though national strategies especially in the field of providing basic
Promotion of acceptance needs are needed within the European multi-level system – they will remain
and participation in without sustainable effect if they are not coming together with measures
society to promote acceptance and participation in society of Europe’s numerically
largest minority. This task can neither be fulfilled by the state level, nor
by the regional or municipal level alone. Close cooperation between state
institutions and the forces of civil society is required.
It appears to make sense that supplementary to the public services by the
state and municipalities, in particular in education, health care, employment
Make more use of civil and housing, accompanying steps are initiated to improve social integration
society commitment and civil society participation of the Roma. In such a process, with the aim of
bringing minority and majority closer together, the potential of civil society
commitment should be used more.
2. Acceptance through approaching one another
For the actors of civil society it is easier than for state or municipal
authorities to enhance social inclusion of the Roma and their participation
in society. Acceptance and recognition cannot be imposed by rules; they
Rethink unprejudiced
evolve in a mutual process of cautious rapprochement without direct
state interference. That requires open-mindedness and the will to rethink
unprejudiced both in the population at large as amongst the members of
the Roma-communities.
Dialogue and exchange are the most important and most effective steps for
Building trust through
getting to know and understand one another. The first step to be taken is to
dialogue and exchange
start up a conversation with one another, get a view of the experiences of the
other side, discover sensibilities and sensitivities and regularly also traumas,
which are the result of generations-long stigmatising and exclusion by the
majority population, but also of a tendency to separation and self-isolation
on the part of the Roma minority.
In an atmosphere or intercultural openness the basis for trust can be
developed, which is needed to address prejudices, fears and conflict
potential relating to someone’s personal array of experiences.
www.fuen.org 4Recognise being different It is crucial, in the specific situation of minority and majority to accept one
as added value another and to not consider being different as a threat, but to regard it as
enrichment arising from diversity and to recognise the added value that is
specific for the minorities.
Consequently short-term-oriented pragmatism is not what is required
Emotional intelligence and here, but rather emotional intelligence, empathy and authentic personal
empathy as key commitment, in order to achieve acceptance through approaching one
another in intercultural dialogue.
3. Minorities as bridge-builders
When it comes to approaching one another and building bridges of trust,
representatives of national minorities and ethnic groups are particularly
Use common background
qualified for the task. They frequently have a similar background and
and experiences
experience and have themselves suffered from exclusion and distrust. Not a
few of them however also found ways and possibilities for getting minority
and majority population to work together constructively and developed this
process confidently and targeted in the interest of both parties. It is not
unusual that representatives of minorities draw a special “self-confidence”
More self-confidence
from their experience and knowledge from their personal efforts to improve
their original situation and the opportunities in society to be involved that
they become aware of. It qualifies them to support others to help themselves
and while doing so take account of the principle of subsidiarity.
From this starting point the minorities almost by itself get the task of an
Minorities as
intermediary. The intermediary-role is one of the skills that characterise
intermediaries
minorities and that apart from other skills show their added value for
cohesion in state and society. Minorities have, as academic research shows
– e.g. the Competence Analysis by the European Academy Bozen/Bolzano
Scientifically proven
(EURAC): “Minorities as Standortfactor in the German-Danish Border Region”,
added value
Bozen/Bolzano 2007 – a specific social and intercultural competence, which
goes hand in hand with a keen awareness for justice and equal treatment.
4. Solidarity amongst the minorities
Solidarity amongst persons belonging to minorities and their specific social-
Solidarity amongst the cultural character should be used Europe-wide to raise more awareness and
minorities acceptance for the Roma minority in its particular social situation.
Efforts must be made to create a solidarity alliance of people belonging to the
Roma with other minority organisations in order to involve them in social
Better advocacy by wor- processes. By establishing trustful contacts internally and joint external
king in tandem action in regard to voicing common interest (“in tandem-principle”), the
negative stance that the Roma initially run across if they act isolated and on
their own can be broken down.
Experiences in the German-Danish border region prove that consistent
The example of the inclusion of the Roma minority in the “Dialogue Forum North” – a joint
Dialogue Forum platform for communication and speaking up of all the autochthonous
www.fuen.org 5minorities in the region – led both to a clear effect of more solidarity amongst
the minorities as well as to improved representation of their interests and
also increased the sensitivity for their interest amongst parts of the majority
population.
5. Minorities as factor for establishing businesses
With its specific background and experience the minorities organised in the
Converging interests of Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) can amongst other things
minority and majority use their competence in regard to the Roma to identify converging interests
of the minority and majority population.
Early involvement of the These steps can only be followed with success, where the ethnic group of
Roma in conceptuali- the Roma is involved extensively and at an early stage in the planning of
sation and planning concrete projects. In this way they will be able to accept the project as their
own.
The concentration on thus identified commonalities will be much more
than a process of awareness-raising. From it, concrete conclusions can be
Minorities as regional derived, not just for more social inclusion, but also about the importance
factor for establishing of minorities as regional factor for establishing businesses. Especially
businesses this aspect gains also increasing economic importance in the light of the
demographic development
of the Roma population in South East Europe.
6. Model for the resolution of social conflict
One of these recommendations for action aims at making it clear on the
Loyalty and minority
basis of a model that on the one hand loyalty of the minorities vis-à-vis the
protection
state and society and on the other hand the freedom of affiliation guaranteed
by the state and protection and support for minorities are interconnected.
Reliability, accountability and partnership built on mutual trust are the
credo of every successful minority policy.
On this basis, the minorities and the majority in the German-Danish border
Minority model of the
region entered into a symbiotic relationship leading them from originally a
German-Danish border
conflictual situation, through a neutral situation to a situation of harmony
region
and cooperation. Today this minority policy has been embedded in a legal,
institutional and social framework. The experiences from the German-
Danish border region serve as a model for peaceful resolution of minority
conflicts for other regions of Europe as well.
The focus should be foremost on the Roma as a target group, but not exclude
Model, also for other
other groups living under similar social-economic and cultural conditions.
groups
The project avoids – in line with the recommendations of the Roma portal
of the European Commission from 24 April 2009 (http://ec.europa.eu/roma)
– considering the situation of the Roma as a singular case or focussing
on general terms such as poverty and (traditional) way of living, which is
www.fuen.org 6rightfully criticised by the Central Council of the German Sinti and Roma.
Instead, it is an exemplary action programme that also can be used on a
wide basis for all inclusion endeavours.
7. Exchange of experiences and best practices
In how far these model approaches of minority policy can be transferred
Pilot “Democracy Project” or are suitable in practice and how they could be transformed into action-
oriented elements should be tested as a first step in a pilot project. According
to its main focus, it is a “Democracy Project” with the aim that multipliers
of the Roma and people belonging to other minorities from the host
country outside of their normal living situation come together – preferably
in a centre for academic education in the German-Danish border region –
where they can get to know each other personally and start a dialogue. The
exchange of experiences and best-practice examples on regional and local
level will encourage the Roma to participate more than before in political
and social life and acknowledge their own importance as local factor both
in the economic as well as in the cultural field.
Use peer-group expe- Following other experiences with peer-groups, the minorities will work as
riences partners on an equal footing with the people belonging to the different
local Roma communities. The peer-groups consist of representatives of the
Roma, members of other autochthonous minorities from the region and the
majority population.
The heterogeneity of the individual minorities represented in FUEN offers
good conditions to initiate and implement complex programmes and
projects tailored to the specific needs of the Roma communities, who live
across Europe in different circumstances.
8. Target group
The target group on the part of the Roma will be multipliers from all field
Concentration on three
of state, municipal and social life. We strive for a balanced composition in
groups of addressees
terms of age and sex. In the starting phase of the project the efforts will
in particular be aimed at three groups of addressees. Where possible, we
strive to include a balanced number of female participants.
Young people in focus As a forward-looking project we will first of all focus on young people. As a
high and homogeneous education and qualification level will be the most
suited to achieve sustainable results, the programme primarily targets
students, post-graduates and academics at the beginning of their careers as
well as persons with a similar education.
www.fuen.org 7Secondly participants will be recruited from the representatives of the
Local represantatives Roma ethnic group, who are either politically active as elected municipal
representatives or who bear responsibility as executives on the municipal
level.
The third group consists of people belonging to Roma-communities who
Voluntary workers are active voluntarily and who have already experience based on their
engagement in the “pre-political” sphere, especially in regard to representing
the interests of their minority.
Commonalities and diffe- From these three sources not only the commonalities based on their identity
rences as persons belonging to minorities will form the basis of the project, but
also their different life situations, experiences, perspectives and views.
9. The Democracy Project in stages
Multi-stage project The Democracy Project consists of several stages.
Stage 1:
The peer-groups are invited by FUEN to the German-Danish border region
together with representatives of the majority population from the respective
Seminar based on mo- regions of origin, in order for them to get to know the German-Danish model.
dules This takes place during a seminar consisting of several modules according
to the following model:
Module 1 “The key experience“
People belonging to a minority tell from their own perspective about negative
Key experience and positive experiences in dealing with majority and minority. The central
subject is a key experience that showed the person involved the way from
the margin of society to become a confident representative of his minority,
who regards belonging to his ethnic group as enrichment and added value
for society as a whole.
Module 2 “Sankelmark model”
Model of the European Study visits and discussions at several establishments of minorities and the
Academy Sankelmark majority population (following the example of a well-known programme for
internships at the German Federal Parliament)
Module 3 “Converging interests”
Identify converging in- Through dialogue, representatives of minorities and the majority population
terests identify common interests.
Module 4 “Way of life”
The significance of cultu- Learn from one another: the significance of minorities for cultural diversity
ral diversity in general and the contribution of the Roma to art, culture and way of life.
Minderheiten und der Mehrheitsbevölkerung (in Anlehnung an ein bewährtes
Akademieprogramm für Stipendiaten des Deutschen Bundestages)
www.fuen.org 8Stage 2:
In the second stage the peer-groups identify according to their local situation
Transferability of the which elements from the model of the German-Danish border region may
model of the border be transferable to their own situation. FUEN, will continue to play the role of
region moderator or coach. The process on-site must be continuously supported,
until it develops a momentum of its own and can sustain itself.
Stage 3:
The peer-groups from the partner countries involved will come together on
Evaluation and best- the invitation of FUEN, in order to exchange experiences, to evaluate the
practice examples processes in their home countries and to develop best-practice examples
for minorities and majorities to live together. These will be document in
a suitable way and disseminated through the European-wide network of
FUEN.
10. Support through concrete project
Because it is important to stay close to practice and to take into account
the realities of life of the addressees, the Democracy Project will be
Make the connection to complemented with education and infrastructure measures on local and
everyday life regional level. They both have a bearing on everyday life, which will create
the necessary link between theoretical knowledge and increased social
awareness on the one hand and the utilisation of what has been learnt in
Core competences in improving the concrete life conditions on the other hand. Corresponding
focus with the core competences of the minorities, the main emphasis will be on
giving assistance in acquiring qualifications in the field of education, schools,
cultural and intercultural skills. Additionally, training measures in the field
of organic horticulture and agriculture will be offered – where possible
Multidimensional based on shared support by both minority as majority representatives and
approach with an integrative approach. Self-sufficiency from gardening, cooperative
marketing models for small scale farmers, nutrition and health aspects will
be covered in a holistic multi-dimensional approach.
Specific infrastructural projects with the emphasis on youth and sports will
Youth encounter additionally give good starting points for work camps and other forms of
youth encounter.
11. Fact finding mission and financing
The Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) welcomes the measures
initiated during the Hungarian Presidency of the Council to improve the
Initiative of the Hungarian
situation of the Roma in Europe (Communication from the Commission
EU Presidency
from 5 April 2011, Conclusions of the Council for Employment, Social Policy,
Health and Consumer Affairs from 19 May 2011 and the acceptance by the
European Council on 23/24 June 2011).
Additional to the national strategies developed on the basis of these
National implementation
documents, FUEN sees the necessity and wide scope for complementary
strategies
civil society engagement in the form of the project that was described on the
www.fuen.org 9previous pages. This is the case both in regard to the relevant report of the
Federal Republic of Germany to the European Commission from December
2011 (www.bmi.bund.de) and to the national Roma-strategy published by
the Hungarian Minister / State Secretary for Social Inclusion, also from
December 2011.
Now that both the ambassador of the Republic of Hungary in Germany
Cooperation project with and the Hungarian minister responsible for issues of the Roma, whom we
Hungary reached through the ambassador’s good offices, expressed their interest, two
fact finding missions will take place in Hungary in 2012 with the support
from the German minority in Hungary. The main emphasis is to get into
Roma in focus contact with representatives of the Roma: the main point is to have direct
talks with them and hear from them about their needs and expectations
and to take their proposals and suggestions into account in formulating the
final project design.
In this context FUEN considers it encouraging and an acknowledgement
Central Council of the of its involvement that the Central Council of the German Sinti and Roma
German Sinti and Roma expressly welcomed the minority project and supported it with given
valuable substantive suggestions.
FUEN thanks the Hermann-Niermann-Foundation in Düsseldorf for
its financial contribution to this mission. FUEN is grateful as well that
Gratitude for “seed money the Robert-Bosch-Foundation recognised the project as worthy of being
financially supported and that it made a commitment to provide funding
for the current year. In order to be able to create a broader basis for the
project, we will try to obtain funding from the EU budget and complementary
funding from national sources.
Additional to this project, FUEN is working to make sure that the importance
Minorities on the EU of Europe’s minorities for social peace, social cohesion and regional
Council agenda development is taken into account on the agenda of the incumbent EU
Council Presidency.
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