EveryOne Group: “The European Parliament delegation visiting Rome from September 18-20, 2008 represents an attack against democracy and the European civilisation of human rights”

Rome, 17th September, 2008. The European Parliament is sending a delegation to Italy in order to observe the conditions of the Roma people. EveryOne Group: “The visit is a farce, because out of the 29 delegates 22 are Italian, including Euro MPs from far right parties, like Fiore and Romagnoli. More than an inspection, it will provide support for intolerant policies”.

The Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) of the European Parliament has decided to send a delegation to Rome, from the 18th to the 20th September, in order to verify the conditions of the Roma people in Italy. Today the schedule of the three days was released with the list of the people in charge of the inspection. The names of the Euro MPs making up the delegation have aroused the disbelief of human rights activists.

“The European Parliament delegation visiting Rome represents an attack against democracy and the European civilisation of human rights,” comment the leaders of the EveryOne Group Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau “because the majority of the Euro MPs are Italian. Out of the 29 members due to visit the Roma camps, and meet the Interior Minister, Members of the Italian Parliament and leaders of the NGOs (including the EveryOne Group) 22 are Italian.

Nobody could claim that this delegation is representative of the European Union. But it is not only that, because among those making up the delegation - which has the task of judging the dimension of racism towards the Roma people - are politicians from the far right parties, like the leader of "Forza Nuova" Roberto Fiore and Luca Romagnoli, the man who asked for DNA testing for every Roma child, and put forward the proposal to deport all the “nomads” - whom he defines thieves and robbers - outside Italy".

The EveryOne Group has sent a message of protest to the Committee on Civil Liberties of the European Parliament.

“It is a formal protest that we are sending to the European institutions, manifesting our concern about an incomprehensible choice. In order to evaluate the conditions of the Roma people in Italy,

it would be more appropriate to choose delegates from other Member States of the European Union, with a recognised commitment in the field of human rights.

Instead, alongside Fiore and Romagnoli, the European Parliament has entrusted the report on anti-gypsyism in Italy to Mario Borghezio, an enemy of the Roma people and author of the racist text entitled “The Prayer of the Gypsy”, that announces gas chambers for the Roma people. The European Parliament is also sending Roberta Angelilli of Alleanza Nazionale, leader of a crusade against Roma parents, whom she defines as “child exploiters”. The list continues with Elisabetta Gardini, whose aversion for the Roma people is so strong it induced her to take a critical stance against the Catholic magazine "Famiglia Cristiana", defined “cattocomunista” after its editorials called on the Italians to be more tolerant. Another member of the delegation is Stefano Zappalà, a supporter of the fingerprinting ethnic profiling of Roma children.

“The delegation, that will visit the “Casilino 900” camp and the “Salone” camp in Rome, will obviously not be objective, on the contrary, it totally represents the present “zero tolerance” policies, continue the leaders of EveryOne “and the presence of people who fight for human rights, like Viktoria Mohacsi, Vittorio Agnoletto, Ottavio Marzocchi or Claudio Fava is not enough for it to be defined a representative entity of the European Union working for the protection of the rights of minorities. For this reason we wish to express our disappointment and indignation regarding the Commission on Civil Liberties of the European Parliament, as well as the suspicion that political agreements have been stipulated underselling the lives of the Roma, who have been the victims of power games for centuries”.

Schedule of the three-day visit:

Thursday 18th,
- meeting with Italian MPs and Senators,

- meeting with the NGOs

Friday 19th
- meeting with Roberto Maroni

- meeting with the special police chiefs and the mayors of Milan, Rome and Naples,

- visit to the Roma camps

Saturday, return.

“We hope our protest is taken up and the visit postponed” conclude the activists. “The European Parliament is still in time to realise the mistake that has been made and prevent a delegation formed in large part by members of the same Italian Institutions that have deprived the Roma people of all their rights, from expressing the voice of the European Union, the same European Union that promotes the ideals of tolerance, peaceful coexistence and true civilisation”.


EveryOne Group
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