Personally, after 15 years of life under a democratic regime, I have concluded that the current situation for Roma is now worse than it was under communism. The Czech state maintains a tepid attitude toward Roma affairs. It contents itself with simply listing off various programs designed for Roma instead of making them into realities, and distributes finances from national and European resources without properly checking to see how the money is being used, or if it actually reaches its stated target. The government relies mostly on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to fulfill its responsibilities toward Roma, but has never bothered to check whether Roma are participating in any part of the process.

Subtle discrimination

Since the country's EU accession last May, more subtle forms of discrimination have appeared. This became obvious with the legal exclusion of Roma from national and European labor markets. Under the new system, national programs of support for Roma enterprises are mysteriously absent, nor are there any programs to provide Roma with any job security in the new free-market system. Ironically, these programs do exist for other special interest groups: small and midsize enterprises, foreign investors. The effects of these policies can be seen most clearly in the construction sector, where many Roma have lost low-qualification jobs to foreigners from non-EU countries. Under pre-accession agreement terms, the Czech Republic failed to protect job opportunities for Roma and other minority groups. Meanwhile, older EU member states were granted exceptions enabling them to prevent socially weak groups from new member states from taking low-skill jobs in their own labor markets — preserving their own social balance, but effectively shutting Roma out on a Europe-wide basis.

Unemployment was a problem before EU enlargement, but at the very minimum Roma could work in the NGO sector. Between the 1989 revolution and the country's accession to the EU, NGOs performed the important service of monitoring the state's treatment of Roma and provided this information to EU monitors concerned about the human rights situation in potential EU member states. Although this post-revolution era of monitoring NGOs is over, there are still many things Roma NGOs are able to do to help fill in the gaps between the capabilities of the state and the needs of Romany citizens. These include the protection and development of Romany culture and the development of Romany identity that blends with the new identity of an enlarged Europe. Unfortunately, NGOs will not be able to perform these important tasks if there are no changes in the current system of distributing funding to support European and national programs for Roma.

Roadblocks to success

The EU funding system needs to be radically reformed. Funds drawn from national or EU finances that are supposed to be dedicated for Roma use are often misused by non-Roma organizations that are unaware of the real needs of Romany communities. Roma are not active partners in the programs supported by these funds, and Roma are not invited to participate in either the planning or realization phases of the projects that affect their lives and opportunities.

In most cases, the sustainability of these programs for Roma isn't even guaranteed. The current system requiring programs to secure co-financing from nongovernmental resources has doomed a number of programs to failure before they are even off the ground.

It's not even possible to agree with the ideas voiced by Czech European Commissioner Vladimír Špidla in a recent interview in the Czech magazine Ekonom. Špidla points to the European Social Fund as a substitute for the inability of the European Commission to formulate the social policy of national states toward Roma. While this fund allegedly offers a large number of opportunities of financing projects to help eliminate social exclusion, it has yet to be effective in spurring real change for the Romany community in the Czech Republic. According to Špidla, the key question isn't the lack of resources, but the lack of quality projects submitted to the fund by NGOs and local governments.

In the Ekonom interview, Špidla voices his belief that affirmative action–esque "supporting arrangements" are a solution for Roma problems in the EU. In reality, these arrangements are just illusions masking the need to push real solutions of Roma problems to a qualitatively higher level.

Integration, not absorption

The pervasive tendency of Eurocrats such as Špidla to group Roma together with other "socially excluded groups" such as disabled persons is even more disturbing. Lumping Roma together with disabled persons is inappropriate and insulting to the Roma nation. While we feel for the disabled, they are a social, not a national group, with different problems and different needs. Roma are not disabled. They are capable of managing all of their own needs and of participating in solutions to the unique social problems facing them across Europe. However, the EU doesn't offer the necessary tools for Roma to decide for themselves what is important.

Roma, like all other citizens, know their rights. They want to actively participate in the process of their own integration into both Czech and European society. Roma demand the right to participate in the decision-making structures of the Czech state and the EU. We don't need non-Romany representatives; we need Romany representatives who can cooperate with non-Roma.

Roma in new member states must push their national states to fully comply with the promises that were made before EU membership became a reality. This includes lobbying the states to fulfill their promises of anti-discrimination legislation, and to effectively apply the democratic principles of participation in social and political life on both a national and European level. It is necessary to integrate Romany culture and history into the national media and educational systems, and at the same time, to work to improve the image of Roma in the media.

The first year of EU membership clearly didn't live up to the expectations many Roma had. Romany citizens expected to be able to move to Western countries and to find jobs. Roma leaders expected the EU would be a platform on which Roma would be able to enter the political arena. Roma NGOs expected they would be given more extensive support from EU agencies, which would enable them to be truly effective in furthering Roma integration into the majority society. Although the most enthusiastic among us point to the few Romany members of the European Parliament as a successful achievement, this too is an illusion. Although these MEPs have maximized the opportunities they were given to help Roma, they are too few to adequately represent the interests of the entire Roma population.

EU membership doesn't have to be a barrier to the full participation of Roma in society. It still has the potential we originally saw to promote Roma integration while preserving our rights as a minority. However, this won't happen by itself. As Roma organizations, we must demand our rights, and we must force the EU and individual member states to live up to the human rights promises of the EU system.