Despite the generally positive impact of the EU's anti-discrimination legislation, a recent report showed that racist violence and crime has actually increased in Europe since the introduction of the race directive in 2000. The report entitled "Racism and Xenophobia in the member states of the EU" was published earlier this week by the EU's recently established Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and revealed that racism and discrimination had risen in 8 of the 27 Member States including Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Finland and the UK.

According to the report, ethnic discrimination and inequality continues to occur in employment, education, and housing, and data collected between 2005 and 2006 shows an increase in racist crime and violence in several European countries. The research points to immigrants as being the victims of the most widespread cases of discrimination and particularly the Roma who have come into the spotlight recently after a fire in northern Italy killed four Roma children and sparked fresh debate over EU policy and the reality of the situation on a national level.

Italy is a country that has long come under criticism for its political shortcomings regarding the travelling community. Widespread discrimination and racial hatred appears to have gone unchecked due to what Nazzareno Guarnieri, Roma and member of a Gypsy associations that groups various Roma and Sinti associations, describes as "political indifference." It is not the only country to be criticised for its policies regarding the Roma but since the tragedy in Livorno it has come under attack from all sides. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi acknowledged the problem but said that until it had been resolved at an EU level, it would be difficult to deal with nationally. "The question of the Roma is a terribly complicated one," he said. Guarnieri was less convinced. "The fact is that the EU has passed a series of rules that Italy had not applied or respected," he maintained.

There are around 12 million Roma in Europe, according to statistics. The majority of them live in shanty towns outside major cities, isolated from the rest of the community and in wretched conditions. "Many policies are done at a regional or local level, and that is problematic (…) you get a very confusing situation, with different norms, different rules in different cities and no comprehensive approach or framework to work within," acknowledged Michael Guet, head of the Roma and Travellers Division at the Council of Europe but he added firmly that "the ghettoization of part of the population is not acceptable to Council of Europe standards."

Francesca Cookney
30 August 2007