THEIR story is as old as time — and so is the racism and discrimination they face. For centuries, Europe’s 10 million or so Roma — sometimes better known as Gypsies — have suffered persecution, prejudice and poverty, making their community the most under-privileged minority in Europe. Finally, however, Europe’s Roma are demanding their rights as equal citizens.

At a first-ever ‘European Roma Summit’ held in Brussels on Sept 16, over 500 representatives of the community insisted it was time for action to end decades of discrimination. Key EU leaders also agreed on the need for change. The Roma still represented “the largest ethnic group facing extreme poverty, social exclusion and discrimination on our territory,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the summit, adding: “Most of their population ... lives in conditions which are simply not acceptable in 21st century Europe.”

Recognition of their plight is a significant first step in ending years of injustice, said Roma leaders. But, as illustrated by the latest bout of Roma-bashing in Italy, changing attitudes towards Europe’s Roma is going to be a difficult, long-haul struggle.

For one, the Roma are a historically persecuted group: the Nazis sent them to concentration camps. More recently, they’ve been attacked by far-right groups in many parts of the EU — both in former communist countries and in western Europe.

Most of them live in Hungary, Bulgaria Romania and Slovakia, where they make up more than 10 per cent of the population, but smaller numbers can be found in almost all EU nations. Italy and Spain have received the most Roma from the bloc’s eastern member states. “In many cities in eastern as well as western Europe, there is violence and racist agitation against our people,” said Romani Rose, head of the German Central Council of Roma and Sinti.

Roma representatives at the Brussels meeting were scathing in their criticism of EU policy. Their anger was especially directed at the European Commission’s failure to condemn Italy over new security measures that human rights groups have denounced as discriminatory against Gypsies. An estimated 150,000 Roma live in Italy, mainly in squalid, makeshift camps on the outskirts of major cities.

After a spate of violence involving Roma in the country, Italy’s government is conducting a census of tens of thousands of Gypsies. It says the moves — which include the finger-printing of children — will help authorities clamp down on crime and illegal immigrants and push Roma children to attend school.

In comments that have been widely condemned by the Roma and by human rights groups, the European Commission said initially that the policy is not racist. “It is very shameful such things can happen within the European Union,” said Isabela Mihalache, senior project manager with the Open Society Institute. “It’s also shameful that the European Commission could not send a clearer and stronger message to the Italian government.”

EU officials have since then taken a tougher line against Italy. Mr Barroso told Roma protesters holding up banners that denounced “ethnic profiling” that he was also against such action.

But the problem is widespread and unlikely to be solved by slogans. Italy is not the only country where Roma face persecution. In Greece, the United Nations has warned that over 100,000 Gypsies living in settlements on the outskirts of Athens are facing a “desperate situation”, typically without electricity and access to potable running water.

In Hungary, there is tension between Roma and non-Roma, after a teacher was beaten to death by a Roma mob in one village, and attacks on a lorry driver and his family in another — both after road traffic accidents involving Roma children. The creation of a ‘Hungarian Guard’, by far-right groups who arrive in villages after such incidents, is fuelling fears of an explosion.

In fact, recent EU enlargements have led to a significant increase in the number of Roma or Roma-related people in many EU states and a simultaneous increase in social tensions. Highlighting the prejudice they face across Europe, a recent opinion polls showed that 77 per cent of Europeans think that being Roma is a disadvantage in society, on a par with being disabled.

In an important step acknowledging the scale of the problem, EU leaders last December said the bloc should use all means to improve the across-the-board inclusion of Roma in Europe.

“Mainstream societies need to offer the Roma a real, practical chance to improve their perspectives. Unless hope enters Roma neighbourhoods, shantytowns and makeshift settlements, these places will inevitably become zones of insecurity for their inhabitants and for the mainstream societies which surround them,” said Barroso.It’s not just a one-way street, however. Analysts say that Roma communities also tend to be inward-looking, with families reluctant to send their children to school and attitudes which work against the emancipation of women. Since they are constantly on the move, the granting of citizenship to Roma is also difficult.

Education is widely seen as providing a solution to Roma marginalisation. However, the gap between Roma educational attainment and the national average remains enormous and has even widened. Also, educational segregation of Roma children in separate schools has intensified in many countries. Discrimination in the jobs market is also chronic.

Given the enormous effort needed to end such discrimination Roma leaders are calling on the EU to draw up a framework strategy on Roma inclusion, including the creation of a Roma unit within the European Commission. There is disagreement on whether this is the right approach, however.

The Czech Minister for Human Rights and National Minorities Džamila Stehlíková has welcomed the proposal, saying “the Czech presidency will support the establishment of an EU Roma unit” at the Commission. But France’s Christine Boutin, the minister for housing and urban affairs, instead insisted that “it is not necessary to create new committees or policy instruments”, calling for efficient and effective use of existing tools. The Commission has also said it will not develop “a centralised approach from Brussels”.

One reason that the EU is unwilling to set up a special department to discuss the issue is that Roma are not the only target of discrimination in Europe. A recent international survey warned that anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim attitudes have been rising nearly in tandem in several European countries, apparently reflecting concerns over immigration, globalisation and economic ills.Anti-Jewish feelings and anti-Muslim sentiments were particularly strong in Spain, Poland and Russia — with negativity up significantly since 2006, according to the Pew Research Centre’s polling. Anti-Muslim views were also strong in Germany and France. Not surprisingly, such negative views of Jews and Muslims are strongest among older people, the less educated and those of the political right — the very people who are also prejudiced against the Roma.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Brussels.

WHEN an army confronts a heavily defended enemy, it has two options: a full-frontal attack or a siege. In the battle against climate change and its cause, there is a similar choice.

The all-out attacks are mega-schemes to convert the Sahara into a giant solar energy farm, or supergrids connecting renewable energy plants across continents. These are dazzling, flashy proposals. Global geo-engineering plans are even more pulse-quickening, aimed as they are at changing the reflectivity of the entire planet.

Yet such spectacular attacks are high-risk, easily turning into crashing, expensive failures. Sieges are the wise general’s choice. And in the context of carbon dioxide emissions, the siege strategy equates to energy efficiency. That means switching stuff off, or building it to use less energy in the first place.

A report last year from the consulting group McKinsey found that even implementing only those energy efficiency measures that pay for themselves at sensible rates of return could reduce the energy needed in 2020 by about a quarter. That would be halfway towards the emissions cuts that give a decent chance of limiting global warming to under 2C. A more homely example: if everyone in the UK bought the most efficient fridges, freezers and washing machines, the carbon saving would equal taking around 1.4m cars off the road.

From a policy perspective, the remedy is clear: minimum energy efficiency standards.

— The Guardian, London