Dear Reader,

Welcome to the second issue of the Roma Integration 2020 Newsletter.

At the beginning, we would like to congratulate you the International Roma Day, 8 April and EU Roma Week. This date is dedicated to the celebration of Romani culture, history and heritage, but it is also used to pursue dialogue and activism towards improving the situation of Roma, closing the unacceptable gaps between Roma and non-Roma, and moving towards equality of Roma in rights and freedoms.

Therefore, we are using this opportunity to draw your attention to the achievements leading to these goals that our project has managed to accomplish during the second year of its implementation. As you will see on the following pages, we have continued our work on proper Roma integration policy formulation, implementation, budgeting and monitoring, through the provision of technical and expert assistance to the governments in the enlargement region.

However, the precarious situation of Roma requires further, long-term commitment and serious investment of all participating economies that shall not only lead to better integration and raising the quality of life among Roma, but will also pay off for the entire enlargement region in getting closer to the EU.

Thus, the Roma Integration 2020 Action Team is committed to continue supporting the governments in the enlargement region on Roma integration in the upcoming period.

We would like to thank all of you who joined us on this mission so far. We hope that your commitment, political will, action and resources will sustain in the years to come.

Orhan Usein

Roma Integration 2020 Action Team Leader

IN THIS ISSUE