madam president this proposal is an opportunity to better integrate the roma people within member states and to find ways to provide the roma people with the full equal opportunities and rights afforded to all eu citizens
the main aim of the programme should be to achieve basic universal rights for all those people
i fear however that once again this heavily burdened and complicated agenda like previous programmes may have to be cut back
the competences of member states in the areas of education health and housing must be respected and from what i have read so far i fear the commission may be acting in a manner that is detrimental to the rights of member states to determine their own policies in these areas
however i hope that this new strategy marks a new era in the way the eu addresses the issue by firstly listening to the roma people
for too long programmes have been too complicated and have simply not reached the people who need help most
in nearly ten years little of substance has been achieved on the ground
i hope the commission will now focus on how best to simplify the procedures for accessing eu funds and how to better monitor assess and implement its programmes
if the eu is spending money in this area then it needs to be spent now in a better way
