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The Decade of Roma Integration started

The year 2005 started most intensely when it comes to the biggest minority in Europe – the Romas. On 2 February, on the initiative of their countries and organized by the World Bank and the Open Society Institute, the prime ministers of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania met officially at an international conference and signed the Declaration on the initiative “The Decade of Roma Integration”. The Decade foresees thorough involvement of the Roam population in the economic and social life of these countries, and each country individually, has already determined its goals for improving the four priority fields – education, housing, employment and health.

Macedonia has already adopted a national strategy for more successful Roma involvement in the society. They enjoy all democratic rights in the country where they are present with 2.66 percent of the population, or according to the latest census results, there are 53,879 ethnic Romas. Macedonia is the only country that officially recognized the Roma language. The Roma ethnic community is constitutional, Romas have their own political parties, parliament representatives, vice-minister in the Government, they have the only Roma municipality in Europe with a Roma mayor…Romas can watch programme in Roma language on the national television or on the two private Roma TV stations, they have newspapers published in their language, a number of civil society associations…

The Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation gives its contribution through the programme Applied Education for Young Romas (POR). In that direction, with the assistance from MCIC, the comparative analysis “Roma Integration in Slovakia and Macedonia” by the author Eben Friedman was published. The analysis is an excerpt from his doctor’s thesis called “Explaining the political integration of the minorities: Romas as a difficult case”. However, besides all this, they remain on the margins of the society, fighting with the poverty, bad education and their everyday living conditions. Will the so far approach for Roma integration in the Macedonian society, which has proved inefficient, continue? Or, will things change eventually with the passing of the Decade of Roma Integration? We are yet to see in the years ahead.