Sarah speaking about the creation of a Roma fingerprints database in Italy

Speech by Sarah Ludford delivered to European Parliament on Mon 7th Jul 2008

Mr President, I am not Italian and I am not a lefty, so, when I am asked by Mr Zappalà and Mrs Angelilli to accept that the intentions of the Italian emergency decree are benign, just to make sure that the Roma community gets appropriate public services, I think I am entitled to beg to doubt this, given the populist and nasty political rhetoric that has surrounded this issue in recent weeks. The fingerprinting of Roma people only is discriminatory and surely illegal - have we forgotten the history of Nazi and fascist racial persecution?

I think Commissioner Špidla showed a reasonable degree of commitment to pursuing discriminatory treatment, and I hope he sees it through: he would redeem the Commission's reputation from the example of Franco Frattini, who merely weeks ago was exhorting us to observe justice and equality and is now an apologist for prejudice. We need a European Roma strategy with funds attached to improve the status, education and integration of Roma people, rather than marginalizing and stigmatizing them. If we can have a common agricultural policy surely we can have a common policy for the Roma.