I am convinced that the year during which Bulgaria holds the Presidency of the Decade of Roma Inclusion will make its particular contribution to the joint efforts of all participant countries through exchange of experience, joint organisation of various initiatives and projects for pursuing consistent policy of efficient inclusion of the Roma in Bulgarian society, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said in his speech on the Bulgarian Presidency of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015.

Bulgaria took over the presidency from Romania. Other signatories in February 2005 were Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovakia.

The Decade plan aims to “bridge the gap between the living standards of the Roma and the rest of the countries’ population”.

Stanishev said that the Bulgarian presidency would focus its efforts on providing “education, accessible health care, decent housing and employment incentives as well as protection from discrimination and equal opportunities for all Roma”.

Stanishev said that the Roma’s problems went beyond the borders of nation states and concerned all of society, which attributed particular importance to joint efforts and shared experience in the integration approaches and practices on which the initiative was based.

“All citizens in Bulgaria are equal, regardless of their religious and political belonging; they have equal rights and equal responsibilities,” Stanishev said.

This was the basis of the Bulgarian Cabinet’s policy - aiming to offer equal opportunities for full integration in the economic, social, political and cultural life of the country. Particular steps had been taken in this direction, such as the adoption of a health strategy for deprived members of ethnic minorities, the establishment of a Centre of Educational Integration of Children and Students from the Ethnic Minorities at the Ministry of Education and Science, the approval of the National Programme for Improvement of the Roma Housing Conditions in the next 10 years, as well as the short-term action plan for the implementation of the Framework Programme for Equal Integration of the Roma in Bulgarian Society, adopted by the Government.

Stanishev said that the real inclusion of the Roma should go hand in hand with constant communication with NGOs and Roma associations, as well as with the Bulgarian ethnic group.

“In the reality of Bulgaria, the Roma are the one social and ethnic group who have suffered most in the years of transition, affected by the market reforms and labour competition, and are more isolated than any other group,” he said.

Stanishev said that Roma inclusion was not an ethnic problem but a social problem that was compounded by the cultural and ethnic idiosyncrasies of the Roma and by the prejudice existing in society.

“For years, Bulgaria did not have a comprehensive state policy of Roma inclusion. There is now an awareness of this social problem and of the need for a co-ordinated and financially supported policy which makes use of the experience of other countries,” he said.

Stanishev called for enhanced government and public control over the absorption of funding allocated for Roma inclusion.

“Some NGOs have become the primary beneficiaries of such funding,” he said.

“We will aim for fully-fledged inclusion of the Roma in the political, social, cultural and economic life of the country and prevent isolation and ghetto-isation,” Stanishev said.

Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova said that the problems facing the Roma were actually problems of all society.

Maslarova said that the ethnic Bulgarian majority was not familiar with Romani traditions.

In addition to the four main priorities of the Decade initiative - integration in education, equal access to health services, accessible housing, and creation of jobs - Bulgaria would also put emphasis on protection against discrimination and the preservation of Romani cultural traditions.

The National Co-ordinator for the initiative, Deputy Labour and Social Policy Minister Yavor Dimitrov, said that Bulgaria would seek above all to link Roma employment to Roma education.

A Roma Inclusion Council is being set up to provide opinions on the social inclusion of this community, he said.

* The ceremony was attended also by President Georgi Purvanov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Disaster Management Policy Emel Etem, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Policy Ivailo Kalfin.

The Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 is an international project, launched by the Open Society Institute and the World Bank.

About two per cent of the 450 million people in the 25-member European Union are Roma, with about five million in the 10 mainly central and eastern European states which joined the bloc in 2004, according to national census data.

The Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 aims to channel the efforts of the governments and societies in Central and Eastern Europe into the integration of the Roma community with a view to overcoming discrimination and poverty and preservation of their cultural identity.