A report released by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) today has outlined the devastating situation facing millions of Roma in the EU.

Reacting to the report at the European Roma Platform, S&D spokesperson for Roma issues, Soraya Post MEP said:

“Every third Roma child in the EU goes to sleep hungry at least once a month. These figures would shock us if we were discussing developing countries around the world. It is almost unthinkable that this is taking place in our own member states. This new report shows just how little has happened to improve the lives of Roma citizens in the EU.

“We will never be able to tackle this poverty and exclusion unless we can finally deal with the root cause of the problem: anti-gypsyism. This report clearly highlights that the EU needs to do more on this. It also confirms that the EU needs to make a clear financial commitment to continue funding programmes to improve the lives of Roma after the current EU framework for national Roma strategies ends in 2020.”