Traian Basescu sends the Roma community his warm regards but is he honest?

President Traian Basescu posted a special message on the Presidency’s website in honor of International Romani Day. Earlier in the week, the president attended the EU Roma Summit where he made a speech expressing his own views in regards to the best ways to integrate members of the Roma community in society.

“I wish to send my warmest regards to the Roma community on International Romani Day. (…) The Roma community must be encouraged to embrace its identity and, through it, its uniqueness”, the President wrote on Wednesday, April 8, for International Romani Day.

“The most difficult is to try and change the collective mentality, to become aware of the fact that Roma cannot be viewed as members of an ethnic group but rather as European Citizens. Of course, the citizen status represents a sum of right s and obligations that once internalized must guide us in all our actions, for the common good. I think it is necessary to perceive Roma communities as a trust-worthy partner in the future of Romania”, the President’s message read.

Earlier in the week, president Traian Basescu attended the EU Roma Summit. This time, the third European Roma Summit held on 4th April marked the International Romani Day (8th April), which gathered not only high level speakers from all over Europe from different European Institutions and Member States but also provided a forum for the European Commission to publish its assessment on the 2013 National Roma Integration Strategies (NRIS) presented by the 28 EU Member States. Basescu was the only head of state or government attending the summit, but according to commissioner Viviane Reding it was important, from a symbolical viewpoint, that the president was there, it shows that yes, it is a topic, a concept and a commitment that Romania is taking very seriously’.

‘”The president was there, Romania is part of the solution, not part of the problem, this is my message and now this message must be turned into reality”, Reding explained.

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In his speech at the event, president Traian Basescu explained that a human resources development strategy, with emphasis on the creation of professional skills, would be the appropriate response to the challenges related to the risk for social exclusion of the Romany minority. Likewise, a strategy centered around the stimulation of a Romany middle-class would help overcome prejudice, including self-exclusion factors, such as the refuse of the Roma people to identify themselves as Roma. He added that local administrations, which are the closest to the community needs, should be the main actors in the implementation of a strategy for the Roma.

“The Romany minority should understand that it is part of a society built on rules that are made formal by being turned into law, or that are informal, passed on by culture. I believe a Roma strategy will only be successful if Roma assimilate the principles of citizenship as life principles in the European society, without such principles affecting their cultural traits that define their ethnic identity. Consequently, any credible strategy should comprise openness to dialogue on the part of the majority, so that the solution itself may be legitimated by genuine public debates. It should highlight targeted measures that take into account the great variety of issues facing the Romany communities, being focused to a great extent on actions by the local administrations,” Basescu told the European Forum.

Basescu then insisted on aspects describing access of Roma to formal education, showing that the proportion of Romany children enrolled with primary schools is 64 per cent, as against a national average of 98.9 per cent. He said discrimination, intolerance and racism are the weak points in the education and training of the teaching staff.

In the same context, he said poverty, followed by repeated poor results in class are the main factors behind the Romany children’s school dropouts. President Basescu also showed that a great part of the Roma who have succeeded in getting integrated and embarking on different “white collar” careers as engineers, doctors, teachers, politicians or business people, no longer recognise their ethnic background. And this self-identification issue, the Romanian head of state said, is because in the relationships between the majority and the Romany minority there is a persistent atmosphere of deep distrust fueled by prejudice.

A past peppered with controversial declarations

The recent events are in stark contrast with Basescu’s past declarations that ooze of racism and discrimination, so much so that the National Anti-Discrimination Council had to get involved. Just as recent as February 2014, CNDC fined president Basescu with RON 600 for his racist declarations from 2010 when he asserted that Roma members “live from what they steal”, writes jurnalul.ro.

In June of 2013, on another occasion, Basescu commented that he doesn’t understand how Roma women can have 5 or 6 children “but Romanian women can’t”.

“How on Earth can the Roma woman raise 5 or 6 children but the Romanian woman can’t. It’s true, the Romani woman is not a manager”, Basescu said in june last year.

Another “infamous” incident took place in may of 2007 when President Basescu used the terms “filthy gipsy” to refer to a female journalist working for Antena 3. For his discriminatory comment, the CNDC issued a warning for the president.

Traian Basescu’s has always banked on his image of “realness” and “authenticity” as it is promoted for the Romanian electorate, but on this issue, it seems that the European Union needs Basescu to be a little less “real” and a little more diplomatic.