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The resource coverage for the National Strategy for Roma Integration through European funds and the planning of the integration policy at municipal and regional level was discussed at the conference “National Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria for Roma integration (2012-2020) – one look at the next program period”. The conference was held on June 15 at the Central Military Club – Sofia and was organized by the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues, the Minister for Management of European Funds and the Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe”.  The conference was attended by the Minister for Management of European Funds, Tomislav Donchev, the Minister of Regional Development, Lilyana Pavlova, the Minister of Health, Desislava Atanasova, the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Zornitsa Rusinova, the Deputy Minister of Education, Petya Evtimova, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Svetlana Boyanova, the head of the European Commission Representation in Bulgaria, Zinaida Zlatanova, the Chairman of the National Association of Municipalities Todor Popov, governers of 24 regions, representatives of NGOs from the Commission for Integration of Roma towards the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues and others.

The integration of the Roma must be recognized as a true inner necessity, not as something that is ordered from Brussels, said Minister Tomislav Donchev in his opening speech to the conference. He said that the integration of ethnic minorities is one of the government’s key priorities and it is long-term rather than short term, which is visible from all the program plans and strategic documents. However, there is a deficit at the policy level and even well known hypocrisy: a lot of talks and reports but little actions. After decades of efforts in the sphere of integration Bulgaria can boast with good working models in many areas like education and health. Difficult, however, is the problem with the housing policy where there are several complex issues but no simple answer. Our efforts in this direction, first of all, is to create a good working model for all the cities where are similar problems, said the Minister. He stressed the need of a system of financial stimulations for the implementation of integration policy which will definitely be embedded in the program documents for the use of the European funds during the period 2014 - 2020.

An enormous challenge for improving the access to quality healthcare to all citizens regardless of their ethnicity, social status or residence comes up for the Bulgarian health services, said Health Minister Desislava Atanasova. Particularly acute is the problem among Roma. She added that the Health Minister released funds for the prevention of various diseases among Roma each year. Successful practices are the network of health mediators, the activities of social health centers in Roma communities and the annual free mobile screening equipment supplied under the PHARE program, said the Minister.

We highly appreciate the partnership with Amalipe and other Roma organizations, stressed Petya Evtimova, Deputy Minister of Education, in her opening speech. As a result of this partnership there were several operations for the educational integration of the Operational Program “Human Resources” developed and announced. The logical continuation of a good cooperation is the inclusion of an intercultural education standard in the new law on school education as well as many other positions that create a comprehensive legal basis for the educational integration.

In his speech, the chairman of Center “Amalipe”, Deyan Kolev, said that the Roma are an unused opportunity for Bulgaria. “38 % of Roma in Bulgaria are young people. Imagine them all young and educated – what a motor for the Bulgarian economy it would be”, said Kolev. According to him the energetic Roma spirit is a chance to infuse a fresh blood in the Bulgarian national body.

Integration policy is neither social welfare for the poor and uneducated nor policy for community development. Not all Roma are in need of integration policy – at least one third of Roma today are better educated and integrated and a challenge for all of us is how to involve at least some of them in the active implementation of the integration policy, said Kolev. Integration cannot happen without the participation of people: on one hand there is the necessity of involvement of the Roma community, on the other hand, the majority must realize that it is beneficial to all Bulgarian citizens.

Rositsa Ivanova conveyed congratulations to the participants in the name of the Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues (NCCEII) Tsvetan Tsvetanov. Due to a stay abroad, Minister Tsvetanov, one of the initiators of the conference, was unable to participate.

During the first plenary session the resource support for the implementation of the National Roma Strategy with European funds was discussed. The moderator Dobrinka Krasteva (director of “Programming of EU Funds Directorate”) outlined the stages in the development of the new programming documents. Until August – September the National Development Program “Bulgaria 2020” will be approved, until the end of 2012 we will have the draft of the Partnership Agreement and from July 2012 will start the preparation of the new operational programs starts. She noted that the group currently preparing the NDP “Bulgaria 2020” considers the proposals introduced by “Center Amalipe” and that the majority of them will be approved so that the issue of Roma inclusion will find its place in this important document. The implementation of the integration policy will be one of the main priorities for the next operational programs and a guarantor for this is minister Donchev's Interdepartmental Group for the resource support of Roma integration, involving the heads of the managing authorities of the operational programs and representatives of Roma organizations.

The minister of Regional Development and head of the OP “Regional Development” Lilyana Pavlova presented a pilot project to improve the living conditions of marginalized groups. The project is going to be implemented in Devnya, Vidin, Dupnitsa, and Burgas. Minister Pavlova stressed that the next programming period will be included many other cities. She pointed out that there are currently being drawn up Integration Plans for urban development and recovery: it is necessary to include neighborhoods with Roma population.

The Deputy Minister of Labor and Head of the OP “Human Resources”, Mrs. Zornitsa Rusinova stated that the guiding principles in designing the new operational program will be the partnership, an integrated approach and the inclusion of the territorial aspect. She stressed that, due to a good partnership with Roma organizations, the OPHR financed steps for Roma integration during the current period. Roma integration will be one of the main priorities in the next programming period looking for integrated projects, which finances activities in the areas of employment, education, social services, health, and housing.

Svetlana Boyanova, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and director of the Rural Development Program expressed her view that the operations should not be necessarily specific ones (“targeting” Roma) - each operation should have an integrating aspect. She agreed that the RDP in this stage does not reach effectively the Roma, and therefore there is the need of a specific informational and motivational campaign in the Roma community.

In his presentation Deyan Kolev, representative of Roma organizations in the Monitoring Committee of the Operational Program “Human Resources”, outlined the main conclusions of the impact of OPHR on Roma integration during the current programming period. He described OPHR as program getting through to Roma most successfully, mainly due to the announced 8 operations (“targeting” Roma) by now and the good interaction between Roma NGOs and managing authorities. Kolev outlined 11 proposals for the next period, which will ensure the support of the OPHR for the National Strategy for Roma Inclusion – on national and local level. Among them was an innovative proposal to standardize the cross-sectoral and the sectoral “interventions on integration”: based on the outlines of the existing successful models. These interventions should have a clear methodology and financial standard, and then the municipalities and other local actors are able to implement them – by funds of the operational program and the state budget. The proposal was supported by Zornitsa Rusinova and the President of the National Association of the Municipalities, Todor Popov.

The second session was dedicated to the planning and implementation of the National Roma Strategy at local and provincial level. It was moderated by the vice presidents of NCCEII Georgi Krastev and Stela Kostova.

Rositsa Ivanova, secretary of NCCEII, presented the actual picture of integration documents at municipal and provincial level. Nobody was surprised by the statement that most of the documents are too formal – without any budget and outdated for years. Mrs. Ivanova proposed that the planning of the implementation of the NSRBIR (National Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria for the Integration of the Roma) at provincial and municipal level should follow the model for social services, appropriated in 2010: development of regional strategies and local plans with a wide participation of all stakeholders. This model was presented in detail by Ralitsa Sechkova, (UNICEF).

Are new documents “per kilogram” necessary and would it not take too much valuable time, asked Stela Kostova (President of the Academy of Roma Culture and Education and Vice-President of NCCEII). The question provoked a great number of statements stressing the need of regional planning if it is not a repetition of the National Strategy and the planning of specific interventions. An act of the Council of Ministers or even a change in some of the laws is needed for a clearly regulated district planning process, said the Vice-Governor of Dobrich province, Dr. Katya Ganova.

The President of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB) and Mayor of Pazardzhik, Mr.Todor Popov expressed a strong support for local authorities to implement the National Strategy. The association suggested including of a state delegated activity “Prevention and Integration” in the national budget for 2013, which at this stage is not supported. “But we are going to defend this idea and will cooperate with Roma organizations to enforce it”, said Mr. Popov. He shared his experiences of the efforts made for Roma integration in Pazardzhik and the villages of the municipality, emphasizing that “the mission is possible”.

A great interest provoked also the presentations of the Vice-Governor of Pazardzhik, Mrs. Vanya Minkova and Yanko Krivonozov, President of the Roma foundation “Future” - Rakitovo.

Georgi Krastev said that the conference marked the beginning of important processes – planning the implementation of the NSRBIR on municipal and provincial level and the new operational programs in a way that ensures the NSRBIR. The coming months are the keys for the both interrelated processes and therefore, the maximum mobilization of all national and local institutions, of the Roma community and of the structures of the civil society is a necessity.