What Romeo spoke about.

11 Apr

2024

DE Speech

International Roma Day - Statement by the President

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Madam President, My name is Romeo Franz, I am Sinto, and I lost six relatives in the Holocaust. This week is an important week for me and for the people with Romanes background. However, the situation in Eastern Europe – Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine – is largely inhumane. Especially in Ukraine, in the forests of Lviv, more than 1,000 Karpati Roma live, excluded from politics and civil society, wi…

10 Apr

2024

DE Speech

Discharge 2022 (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. As draftsman of the opinion on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget for the financial year 2022, I have found constructive cooperation. We are all aware of the importance of Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps. I was able to put particular emphasis on the need to increase the budget for the EU's youth, culture and education progra…

14 Sep

2023

DE Speech

Segregation and discrimination of Roma children in education (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, It is sad when siblings and children are excluded from school. And we – we must fight against such injustices and exclusion. Exclusion often begins with words. In politics, the term Roma is often used as a generic term for all Romanesque-speaking people, such as Caló, Manuš, Lovara, Resande, Bojash, Domari, Caldera, Romani, Kale and Sinti. This is fundamental…

9 May

2023

DE Speech

2022 Report on Kosovo (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Kosovo belongs to the EU. The recently adopted visa liberalisation is an important and long overdue step in this direction. As a result, Kosovars will be able to travel to the EU without a visa for 90 days from next year. This is a great success, which I am particularly happy for the many young people in Kosovo. One obstacle to the future development of Kosov…

9 May

2023

DE Speech

Discharge 2021 (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The Erasmus+ programme, together with some other programmes that promote cultural exchanges, are the most well-known for many people in the EU. It is important that these programmes reach even more people and focus more on diversity and inclusion. The EU must take all people with it, especially marginalised groups and our youth. But with the much too short-te…

15 Dec

2022

DE Speech

The 30th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, One of the fundamental objectives of the Declaration is to demand respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. Measures are required to promote the identity of minorities. There is an explicit call for measures to be taken to promote knowledge of the history of minorities. Minority members should have adequate opportunities to share their person…

13 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Implementation of the New European Agenda for Culture and the EU Strategy for International Cultural Relations (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. With this report, we urge the Commission and the Member States to ensure the involvement of the most marginalised and under-represented groups in cultural activities and initiatives, not only as passive recipients, but also as active creators, that is, on an equal footing. Last week, I invited a delegation of members of the Kosovo Human Rights Committee to Berli…

10 Nov

2022

DE Speech

Racial justice, non-discrimination and anti-racism in the EU (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Today we are making history. For the first time in this Parliament, we are putting such a strong emphasis on the fight against structural racism and discrimination against minorities. This report urges us to finally address the root causes of structural racism and discrimination. The fight against racism must finally be tackled in the EU. We are setting an impor…

5 Oct

2022

DE Speech

The Dutch childcare benefit scandal, institutional racism and algorithms (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Thousands of families were wrongly accused of fraud in the Netherlands between 2013 and 2019. Many families became indebted and children were taken away from their parents. The reason for this is a deep-seated racism and prejudice, with which one has deliberately fed the algorithms. I can sympathize very well with those affected, as people with Romanesian backgr…

5 Jul

2022

DE Speech

2021 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina (debate)

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In any case, we need to overcome an ethnosystem. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in Europe that has this system, and it has no future. I'll tell you from my own experience. We lost six members of my family in the Holocaust because we belonged to an ethnic group, the Sinti. And we know that an ethnic system cannot have a future, nor can it guarantee human rights. That is why it is import…

5 Jul

2022

DE Speech

2021 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina (debate)

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Dear Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, We all agree that a sustainable stabilisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the European interest, not just in the context of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. We know that Putin wants to extend his influence to the Western Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is therefore necessary that we in the European Union, together with our international all…

22 Jun

2022

DE Speech

Inclusion measures within Erasmus+ 2014-2020 (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Our flagship European programme Erasmus+ is a European flagship project, but there are still young people who have never heard of it. We need to improve this, because inclusion measures are key to a successful Erasmus+ programme. All young people within the EU, regardless of their affiliation or ethnicity, but especially those from disadvantaged, marginalised…

7 Apr

2022

DE Question

The situation of marginalised Roma communities in the EU (debate)

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That you just call the name Salvini here shows what attitude you have. Salvini is one of the greatest racists we have here in Europe. If you accept what Salvini did, then that's where you belong.

7 Apr

2022

DE Speech

The situation of marginalised Roma communities in the EU (debate)

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Mr President! () We, the people with Romanesian background, celebrate our international day on April 8. On this day, this House must say more clearly and loudly than ever that antigypsyism is a deeply rooted phenomenon and makes our society sick. Let's look at Ukraine: My people are often prevented from fleeing, from crossing the border. My people are separated from the refugees because of their e…

8 Mar

2022

DE Speech

The situation in Bosnia Herzegovina (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner! Bosnia and Herzegovina's painful history is not long ago, and the dramatic developments in Ukraine evoke bad memories. Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine is an attack on the whole of Europe and on our value system, on our peace order. Putin also wants to reduce European influence in the Western Balkans. His strongest ally in Bosnia and Herzegovina is Milorad Dodi…

7 Mar

2022

DE Speech

Role of culture, education, media and sport in the fight against racism (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has brought infinite suffering to the people of Ukraine, and countless women, children and elderly people are seeking protection in neighboring countries. These, in turn, make an incredible humanitarian contribution in the face of the masses of people in need of help and seeking refuge. Unfortunately, there are more and…

23 Nov

2021

DE Speech

Situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina (debate)

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Dear Madam President, The current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is dramatic. This is not an ethnic conflict, but a geopolitical security problem. Mr Dodik, with the support of President Vucic and President Putin, is trying to destabilise the country and the entire region, thereby also weakening the EU. A bloodshed in Bosnia, which is spreading to the wildfire in the Western Balkans, seems po…

23 Nov

2021

DE Speech

Condemning police violence against Romani people in the EU (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner! Institutional racism against people with Romanesian background is spreading in Europe and is becoming deadly and real. On June 19, in Teplice Stanislav Tomáš, a young Rome, a policeman pressed his knee in the neck for six minutes. Stanislav died like George Floyd. The fact that we are debating this issue here in the European Parliament today was…

20 Oct

2021

DE Speech

The rise of right-wing extremism and racism in Europe (in light of recent events in Rome) (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, The right-wing extremist excesses of violence in Rome are part of the Europe-wide trend of the radicalisation of right-wing hate speech and the increasing willingness of the political right to use violence. This is sad and outrageous. In times of coronavirus, this phenomenon has intensified. In Vicenza, a bomb was dropped on a Sinti camp in August. People are…

19 Oct

2021

DE Speech

General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022 - all sections (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. The items relevant to the Committee on Culture were mainly included in the general budget of the European Union for 2022. This is a good sign for our citizens. This budget responds to the need for investment in education and culture, especially in view of the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis. No one doubts that the cultural and creative sectors and all the p…