By Prensa Latina,
Brussels : European Union authorities discussed on Tuesday the complex situation of gypsies in the continent, amid a controversial collection of immigrants’ fingerprints promoted by the Italian government.
Leaders of EU bodies, the civil society and the gypsy community attended the summit held in Brussels, Belgium.
President of EC (the European Commission), Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, said member countries of the bloc are directly responsible for the gypsies’ integration policy. Therefore, the plight of this ethnic minority cannot be solved from Brussels, he added.
As the EU leader was giving his speech, representatives of the Roma ethnic community stood up to protest the census promoted by the government of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and supported by the EC.
In an effort to defend himself from these denunciations, Durao Barroso said the EU rejects racial discrimination. Each person can live his/her life free of affront, he added.
During the EU summit, the strongest defense of the gypsies came from US businessman of Hungarian origin George Soros, who termed illegal the ongoing fingerprint collection in Italy.
IT should be banned. I hope the European Court of Justice will intervene to step in, said Soros.
The controversial step is part of a decree-law promoted by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni against gypsies from East Europe, mainly Rumanian, mostly living illegally in the peninsula.
According to a report released in Brussels in July, high unemployment, extreme poverty and life expectancy below that of the rest of the European citizens characterize this nomadic community.