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The third European Roma Summit took place in Brussels on 4th April.  Unlike the previous two similar meetings this one met the definition "summit”. The meeting was attended by the  José Manuel Barroso - President of the European Commission, Viviane Reding - European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion - László Andor, the Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth - Androulla Vassiliou, the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy - Tonio Borg, the President of Romania -  Traian Basescu, Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria – Zinaida Zlatanova, ministers and state secretaries from nine other countries – EU members, MEPs and MPs from member states. George Soros - founder of the Open Society Foundation also took part in. Roma civil society was represented by European and national Roma organizations.  Apart from Zlatanova, there were three representatives of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues, Tsanko Tsonev – mayor of Kavarna, Lili Makaveeva – Coordinator of the ROMACT Programme for Bulgaria, Vergul Ismail from the Integro Association and Deyan Kolev – Chairman of Amalipe Center.  

The Commission President opened the forum with a speech that can be defined as significant. For the first time he used the explicit term "European Roma Policy" - pointing out that it is already а fact.Mr Barroso marked three main pillars of European Roma policy:  

- Political: the EU framework for national strategies for Roma integration should be Supplemented by a mechanism for annual reporting on how Member States implement their strategies;

- Legislative: the recommendations of the European Council of 09.12.2013, the represent the first EU legislation – even if being "light" -  for Roma integration;

- Financial: President Barroso stressed that pillar, emphasizing that it is very important for the European Commission to ensure the use of more EU funds for Roma integration. That’s why in the new programming period the European Commission asked all Member States to use at least 20% from the European Social Fund for social inclusion (which applies to Roma), etc.  

President of the European Commission expressed its firm belief that the European Roma policy will be followed by the next European Commission and European Parliament. At the same time, he repeatedly stressed the need for policies for Roma integration to reach the local level, which was the theme of the entire forum.

‘The wind of change. Roma integration is in the reach of the political radars! ’  With these words, the participants were addressed by the Vice President and Commissioner for Justice and Human Rights Viviane Reding, recalling that the second summit on Roma in Cordova in 2010 there were not involved ministers from member States,  but on this present summit there are presidents, ministers and five commissioners. She stressed that the wind of change started with the EU Framework for national Roma strategies and subsequent approval of such a strategy by all Member States. ‘The mission of Roma integration is possible’, said Reding and argued with many examples of successful integration initiatives at а local level, calling them ‘little miracles’.  Vice-President Reding expressed the idea of ​​‘more targeted policies and financial mechanisms specifically targeted at Roma - a centralized EU funds, which will be for specific projects for the Roma, ’offered Ms. Reding.  

‘Without European Roma policy, the living conditions of Roma could be worse ’, said in his speech George Soros. It needs to be directed towards the countries applying for EU membership. Mr. Soros suggest four ideas for more effective European politics:

- the models of educational integration created by the Roma Education Fund, to be expanded with funds from the EU;

- to invest significant resources for employment of educated Roma;

- to focus on maintaining and upgrading Roma cultural identity, especially among young Roma. In this respect, it is better to support the creation of European Roma Institute, said Soros. The idea of ​​such an institute came by the Council of Europe, and was supported by President Barroso;

- to create a fund to support integration initiatives run by Brussels. George Soros states that the countries with the largest Roma population have the lowest absorption rate of EU funds and the most severe administrative procedures that prevent any possible integration initiative. Therefore it is better for the funds that are not used to be directed to a central fund and to be managed by the European Commission.

Many political statements from high level limited the possibilities for discussion. Few speakers - Roma activists - echoed the existing high levels of discrimination and rising anti-Roma sentiment in Europe, bringing concrete examples from different parts of the continent. In her speech, Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria Zinaida Zlatanova said that in 2013 Bulgaria has made the process of regional planning of the implementation of the National Strategy for Integration of Roma. There are 220 adopted municipal plan for integration. She also pointed out that Roma organizations play a leading role in the activities of the Commission for the implementation of the National Strategy to National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues. The lack of discussion did not allow the attendees Roma activists from Bulgaria to speak on these issues, Tzonko Tsonev, Mayor of Kavarna, presented his experience in achieving real integration.

During the meeting the report on the implementation of the EU Framework for national strategies for Roma integration was officially presented. Analysis of the report can be found here.