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09.09.2014How Germany integrates Bulgarian and Romanian Roma?

 

 Representatives of local authorities and civil society in Bulgaria and Romania visited Germany at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany to participate in the seminar "Management of integration projects". The visit lasted from 31 August to 6 September and was organized by the Institute "Goethe". Bulgarian participants in it were Emanuil Manolov (Mayor of Pavlikeni Municipality) Zlatko Zhivkov (Mayor of Montana Municipality), Iveta Dimitrova (director of "Social Work and Health” Directorate at Veliko Tarnovo Municipality), Ognyan Isaev (facilitator of the Roma education Fund for Bulgaria) and Deyan Kolev (Chairman of Center "Amalipe").

The visit included a visit to institutions and organizations in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Dortmund and Cologne, where Bulgarian and Romanian participants met with representatives of federal ministries of foreign affairs, social policy and urban planning, municipal administrations of Nyoykyoln area in Berlin, Dortmund and Cologne, the Ministry of Labour, Integration and social Affairs of North Rhine - Westphalia, the Association of German cities. They also met a number of NGOs working in the field with the arriving from Bulgaria and Romania migrants, as well as part of the emigrants themselves.

The main topic of the meetings was the efforts that Germany makes for the integration of the Roma in particular for the integration of Bulgarian and Romanian Roma, who make a living in the Federal Republic. Germany has a long experience of integrating millions of immigrants and in view of its negative demographic structure, it needs immigrants, shared representatives of most institutions. For example, in North Rhine - Westphalia live 16.5 million people, of whom 1.9 million have no German passport and 4.2 million are descendants of immigrants. Against this background, the number of settlers Bulgarian and Romanian nationals is not large - about 400,000 people across Germany and 80 000 in North Rhine - Westphalia (Bulgarians there are 31 000). Over 80% of them are highly qualified - doctors, computer specialists and others and their integration in the labor market and in society runs smoothly. The main problems for the remaining 20% are low level of education and lack of knowledge of German language. This minimizes the chances of legal and well-paid job. They often fall victim to unscrupulous homeowners who settle them in inappropriate for a normal life places, taking excessive rent. Many Roma immigrants, especially those coming from Bulgaria are Turkish speaking and communicate easily with resident Turkish immigrants, but it is not enough for their integration.

These are citizens of the European Union, and we perceive them as such, all institutions were explicit. So we make a concerted effort to integrate them. First is learning German, for this purpose, special courses - for adults and children are organized. It is imperative for children to attend school and in this respect is made no exceptions, institutions assured. Children who do not know German have preparatory semester, then they receive additional support. We saw that Germany is not afraid of new challenges in all meetings: no panic and fear of "flooding waves of Roma" and rational desire to learn how to develop and utilize their capacity - something that our native politicians inexplicably do not want to do. We saw it even in the flexibility of the institutions in Germany - in 2005 in North Rhine - Westphalia was created a ministry of integration and nowadays 55 integration centers and 160 integration agencies are operating. These are working structures created for the emerging need for them. We asked ourselves if Bulgaria does not need integration structures and why there is no political will for them ...

Much of the integration activities are delegated to non-governmental organizations working in the field with immigrants and are significantly more efficient. These activities are supported not only by the European Social Fund, but above all by means of the federal budget. We visited such organizations in Berlin and Dortmund. They offer a wide range of social services as their core funding is received by the municipal or provincial budgets. They report and prove their effectiveness annually. We saw with our eyes that this model works in Germany and is an important part of German success. It would probably achieve success in Bulgaria - if there is the will to implement it.

"Social tourism", ie emigration to obtain social benefits exists, as it covers a very small percentage of Roma. Germany introduced additional measures to limit it that will not violate the right to freedom of movement, which is one of the main rights of the EU. But it is clear that Romanian and Bulgarian Roma come to look for work, and therefore the main resource is allocated for their education and training. In this respect it is important partnership with Bulgarian and Romanian educational institutions, which at this stage do not take care of any migrated to Germany Roma and obviously did not have taken the necessary effort while they were in their countries of origin, shared many of the German hosts.

Major German cities where there is a concentration of Roma are keen on joint projects with the municipalities in Bulgaria and Romania, of which the immigrants come from, indicated the Association of German cities. Feature of Roma migration is that whole local communities settled together and continue their contacts with relatives of the municipality of origin. This is a prerequisite for joint projects as municipalities in Bulgaria / Romania and Germany have a "twin" of migrants who live in them: this is a good opportunity for joint initiatives. The Association of German cities has already made a visit to Romania, where they met with interested Romanian municipalities and plan a second meeting. They show interest in joint initiatives with the Bulgarian municipalities, but so far have not established contacts.

The meetings with Bulgarian Roma living in Dortmund were accompanied with many emotions. Most of them come from northeastern Bulgaria, Plovdiv and Peshtera and represent the group of Millet, speaking Turkish. They say that work in local Turks families, but intend to learn German and to find a well - payed job. "We dream of Bulgaria and want to go back, but there is great poverty there. Here we have a lot more options ", said some of them. And send us with a smile or tears, but not with indifference.

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