News

At its summit on 21 December the Council of Ministers adopted the National Strategy for Roma Integration and the adherent Action Plan for its implementation. A Program Plan has also been adopted in support of the National Strategy for Roma Integration, which will be financed with EU and state budget funds within the current and the next programming period.

The strategic goal of NSRI is to create conditions for equal integration of Roma and Bulgarian nationals from other vulnerable ethnic groups living in disadvantaged social and economic conditions by providing equal opportunities and equal access to rights, benefits, goods and services, participation in all public spheres and improving the quality of life applying the principles of equality and non-discrimination.

The National Strategy integrates the measures available in current documents in the sphere of education, healthcare and housing conditions, by suggesting a wholesome approach to address issues related to Roma integration. Besides this, other priority areas within it are employment, the rule of law and non-discrimination, the culture and the media.

An Operational document which enables the Strategy execution is the adherent to it Action Plan. It will be implemented in two phases - until 2014, when the implementation of the National Action Plan for the international initiative Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 will be completed, and 2020, coinciding with the next programming period of the European Union and the OPs of Bulgaria.

As financial support measures in the Action Plan are envisaged funds from the state budget and the EU financial instruments. The Annex "Support Programs of the National Strategy for Roma Integration" provides funds for execution of the document.

The strategy will be proposed for discussion in Parliament

The National Roma Integration Strategy has been prepared pursuant to the European Commission Communication "EU Framework for National Strategies for Roma Integration." The document was prepared by a working group of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues which involved representatives of the main institutions of the executive body and Roma organizations. In October, CIEDT Amalipe in partnership with the Roma Academy for Culture and Education - Sliven, "World Without Borders" - Stara Zagora, The "New Road" - Hayredin and "Roma - Lom” Foundation organized conferences to make specific proposals to the document. As a result of this conferences, the Annex  "Support Programs of the National Strategy for Roma Integration" has been elaborated, a consensus about the name "National Strategy for Roma Integration" was reached and the suggestion to propose the document for adoption to the National Assembly was made.

An analysis of the document will be uploaded after its official publication