European Parliament
A6-0148/2006
Leopold Józef Rutowicz (NI ). –
(PL)
Mr President, the Roma question varies in scale from one EU country to another. However, throughout Europe, the Roma are a very poor community and suffer all the consequences of poverty. Culturally they are a very tight-knit community with their own laws that discriminate against women. The changes that have come about in the countries of the former socialist bloc have resulted in unemployment, which affects Roma women in particular. Hunger, disease and a lack of work and housing have pushed this community into extreme poverty, which I have witnessed in Ukraine, in Romania and in other EU countries where the Roma community constitutes a sizeable ethnic group. One place of hope was the orphanage in Liptovský Ján, where a group of Roma children were clothed, smiling and playing, rather than begging.
I would add the words ‘and children’ to the title of Parliament’s resolution on the situation of Roma women, as children are defenceless in this tragedy. The resolution and the proposals it contains are sound, and I would like to thank the rapporteur for her work on it.

