(Photo: [auro]/Flickr).

"A diamond hidden in bread, for one sweet mood in the blood, for the same reason of the journey, to travel. The heart slows down, the head walking in the dark of carousels felt into disuse, some Roma stopped Italian as a copper dusk on a wall. Being able to read the book of the world with prismatic words and no writing, in the paths constrained in the palm of his hand, the secrets that they fear". (Translation of "Khorakhanè"-Song by Fabrizio De André)

ROMA: WHO ARE THEY? The Roma are an integral part of Europe since thousands of years, nowadays a rough estimate of 10-12 million people; the largest ethnic minority , present in all 27 states, in many of whom are recorded episodes of major violence and intolerance, which increase exponentially day-by-day. The displacement of the Roma has also increased significantly as a result of EU enlargement to Eastern Europe, between 2004-2007. We are in the so-called "Decade of Roma Inclusion in the European territory" (2005-2015) launched by the European Commission (though few seem to know): the European Commission decided to hold a summit every two years for Roma with 'goal of bringing together senior representatives of EU institutions, national governments and civil society organizations across Europe. As Commission President Barroso said that these events represent "a unique opportunity to give more priority than ever to problems of Roma”. The first summit was held in Brussels September 16, 2008; the second will be in Cordoba (Spain) on 8 April 2010. The 10 COMMON BASIC PRINCIPLES on Roma are: 1.Constructive, pragmatic and non-discriminatory policies 2.Targeted approach: explicitly but not exclusive 3.Intercultural approaches 4.To aim the integration 5.Awareness of the mainstreaming 6.Policies based on actual data 7.To use community instruments 8.Involvement of regional and local organizations 9.Involvement of civil society 9.Active partecipation of Roma people. But the situation is not getting better. WHAT GAGE' THINK ABOUT ROMA? Over the past two years European surveys have shown that in 77% of cases, respondents ("Gagè", which means non-Roma), consider a social disadvantage being Roma, and about a quarter of Europeans would feel uncomfortable to have them as neighbors. The Roma community suffers a massive discrimination in Europe, without exception: a segregation that in some countries seems similar to the the "racial laws" of the last century. In some countries like Romania is not difficult to find outside locals things like "Roma can not entry"; in Italy, Rome, a few weeks ago a Roma woman had to pay two euros rather than 85 cents for a coffee, with the quick justification of the manager: "so she won't come back anymore". Meanwhile continue the clearing out of the "nomad camps" in Italy and the attacks in Eastern Europe. Borderline, in a disastrous life, especially for children which frequently have severe disease: a life in cold shaks, with little possibility to find a job, if not begging. And too often for the Italian street you can hear:"they do not want to work, is not in their culture". But nobody really know this culture. Everyone talks about it, first of all politicians, and nobody actually knows anything. WHAT IS THE REASON TO TRAVEL? They have not a proper "travel culture": few of them are those who continue to travel for “love of freedom” as the Gitanos in Spain. In most cases they do it for necessity. A Roma interviewed by a senior European Commission responded as follows: "In Romania I expect to eat once a day. In Finland I expect to eat three times a day. This is the difference". Too simple to understand? The differences within the Roma culture is enormous: a group from Romania can hardly be compared with a group from Kosovo. This is not so incomprehensible: our apartment building's meetings is emblematic of how difficult is the coexistence between people with different habits and frames of reference. That's why decided to deal with this topic a second time, to see which steps have been taken since the beginning of this decade of inclusion, and I will talk again in the future because of the complexity of the subject. The examples that I am going to show are highly synthesized and therefore can be confusing, but I hope that could be useful for a reflexion to all who are interested. EUROPE The European Commission on Human Rights has strongly criticized countries such as Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, and all the countries of Eastern Europe, who adopted discriminatory treatment against Roma and Sinti. If we try to understand how Europe address the Roma problem we are faced with heterogeneous measures and actions where often no one actually bother about their point of views. The European Union gave frame of reference since 2001 but each state has decided independently about the measures to be taken. About 300,000 Roma live in CZECH REPUBLIC: around three percent of the population. Amnesty International's Report "Injustice renamed" examines the work of authorities in the Czech Republic: despite the European Court for Human Rights's sentence on 2007, Czech's government continue to include Roma children in schools for pupils with "mild mental disabilities”, giving them in this way, an education below to the standard. "Education is the way out of the vicious circle of poverty and exclusion affecting most of the Roma population. If the government of the Czech Republic will not give equal opportunities to Roma children, will deny them the opportunity to have a better future and to fully participate in the life of the country.". In CZECH REPUBLIC, there is a project called "Vesnicko souza" (Co-existence project), sponsored by several local NGOs, which allowed the construction of housing in the city of Ostrava, for Roma and locals who have lost their homes (for a total of 30 families). The government allocated approximately 2,455,423 euros for the project, and it seems that the combination of housing and social work had a positive effect. In ITALY in the past years, the "Roma problem" pushed the proliferation of incorrect and sometimes racist laws that do not solve any "problem" (if we can call it so) but increased fear and discrimination even against those who have lived here for generations, with a job, a family and an excellent command of Italian language. There was also the proposal by Minister Maroni to do a census, that in itself would be a good idea, non-discriminatory and useful even on a statistical level: but he then added to the provision of fingerprints, which is a clear violation of the principle of equality. The European report on the housing problems of Roma, refers to the project "Thin Cities" as the most virtuous made in Italy: made by the Local Health Unit, the municipality of Pisa, a large number of NGOs and financed by the Region of Tuscany, the ambitious project born in 2002, called for a dismantling of so-called "nomad camps" in the Coltano area(between Pisa and Livorno) for the construction of housing units. The activities were followed by three Roma mediators, and some Roma have worked in the construction of these houses. Although the political debate focused on the project for a long time, it has been carried out with great difficulty, and we are now at the point that the houses were built but nobody lives and nobody talks about it anymore, to avoid a "war between poors". The various administrations over the years have not been able to decide how to allocate families, which grown up in the meanwhile, and the project has been stopped, under the usual cospiracy of silence. In HUNGARY attacks are growing: in 2008 there were 16 incidents involving weapons against Roma citizens; in SERBIA the housing problem is getting worse; in KOSOVO and ROMANIA there are frequent violent attacks, often perpetuated by the police. In UK the slogan is: "right to school, right to the future". Reforming the education system, February 2009, has been proposed a new experience of social inclusion for young Roma and Travelers. The "UK Department for Children, schools and families"said: "We can imagine how difficult it can be for a child to learn, if put under constant pressure to be cataloged as" Gipsy ", Roma or Traveler? (...) We need a system of inclusion for all children. All cultural backgrounds must be understood and respected (...) We must raise awareness in local authorities, schools, parents and children, so that we can make progress toward the change we need". SPAIN is the third country in EU for number of Roma: an example of virtuosity is the "Plan for the integration of Roma in Catalonia” (2005-2008) which mainly refers to the Roma from Eastern Europe: the government gave 3.5 million Euros annually for its implementation (in addiction to the funding of individual authorities and NGOs) and a series of actions for the "integration" (with all the risks that this word entails) in the areas of work, school and housing problems. In IRELAND, in 2007, the Travelers were 8099, of which about 22% in specific habitations. In recent years it has tried to tackle the housing problem and 97% of them were placed in regular housing: there are also many institutional bodies dealing with the issue, trying to give them the opportunity of active participation, such as the "Accommodation Consultative Committee (LTACC) or the" Council Traveler Accommodation Program (TAP). FRANCE with the law Besson (1990; 2000) decreed that every town with more than 5,000 people must have an "welcome area": Sarkozy in 2003 added the postscript that who does not respect the rules of the areas will be sent off forever. There are also a series of housing programs for those who decide to stay for a long time. In GERMANY as well, to forget the nazist "Gypsies Office" built in Monaco in 1929, which spread in an extermination of blind violence, the country accepted Roma as a national minority. There have been allocated houses, support and favorable conditions to work, for those who respect the law, of course. I advice to read the reports of the FRA (European Agency for Fundamental Rights) which explain in detail the measures, virtuous or not, adopted by EU member countries. It is fair enough the need of an office in each country directly involved in the matter, especially to remove the "Roma myths" and all the discrimination attached to this word. A single voice can not change all the consciences but can be an initial impetus to the cultural transformations of which Europe certainly needs.