Pro-EU politicians need Roma voters

Zeljko Jovanovic is the president of the Roma Foundation for Europe.

In the upcoming European Parliament election, the EU’s future hangs in the balance. And though there are some 400 million eligible voters, it could take just a few hundred thousand of them to shift power within the Parliament, with the far right poised to increase its share of seats.

However, pro-EU candidates can still counter this expected surge if they were to mobilize support among those for whom European values — equality, freedom, solidarity, human rights and rule of law — truly matter. And given our numbers and demographics, the EU’s Roma voters are one such obvious constituency.

The bloc’s Roma population of 6 million is present in almost every EU country, comparable in size to a mid-size member nation like Denmark. The Roma even comprise about 10 percent of the population in some EU countries, including Hungary, Bulgaria and Spain. Moreover, there are two times — in some countries, even three times — more Roma below the age of 15 than among the majority population, meaning the community has a comparatively high count of first-time voters.

So, if taken seriously and treated fairly, the Roma could play an important role in shaping the EU’s future and strengthening its democratic foundations. Unfortunately, however, pro-EU politicians cannot count on their vote by default.

With a few honorable exceptions, politicians have simply made too many mistakes, alienating large portions of this important constituency.

Firstly, many leaders — especially in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis — have left the Roma in worse conditions than many populations in the global south. The latest data show, for example, that while the working poor in the EU make up 8.5 percent of the population, among the Roma, they account for 39 percent — nearly the same as in Sub-Saharan Africa (38 percent).

Moreover, this level of poverty has been exploited for vote buying and coercion. And while it’s true that such undemocratic practices have also been used to sway the rural poor and other populations, the Roma across the EU have been disproportionately exposed to them.

Finally — and most crucially — pro-EU politicians have too often remained silent when the far right has attacked the Roma. The early success of the conservative Jobbik party in Hungary and the League in Italy was primarily due to the weaponization of anti-Roma prejudice. These examples also suggest that pro-European leaders saw the far right as more of an aberration threatening marginalized communities than the early warning sign of a serious threat to themselves and the democratic system — how wrong they were!

So, when Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán used anti-Roma racism to overpower the courts about five years ago, then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel remained silent. Her government, party and European political family all continued working with Orbán’s government, and the EU continued channeling money to his regime.

Undemocratic practices have also been used to sway the rural poor. | Georgi Licovski/EPA

These leaders have displayed a similar attitude in their foreign policy as well. For example, in 2018, when the notorious Ukrainian far-right group C14 organized a series of violent attacks on Roma settlements, leading to the brutal death of 24-year-old Daniel Pap, protests were held outside Ukrainian embassies across Europe. And yet, pro-European leaders chose not to stand with them.

In a similar geopolitical calculation, while EU High Representative Josep Borell condemned the killing of George Floyd in the U.S., around the same time, the murder of Stanislav Tomáš — a Roma man in the Czech Republic — raised no significant reaction. Russia, on the other hand, used the opportunity to stand with the Roma, calling attention to the EU’s moral and political inconsistency.

Over time, all this has eroded the Roma’s trust in democracy, pushing many to abstain from voting or — even worse — pushing them into the arms of anti-European forces. And seeking to exploit this situation, some on the far right have been courting disaffected segments of this population. In Romania, for example, where there’s an estimated 1.5 million Roma — the largest Roma population in the EU — the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians party has been reaching out to the conservatives among this constituency, which aren’t to be underestimated in size.

Of course, undoing all these wrongs in the run-up to the June election is unrealistic, but there are still things that could be done to make a difference in the short term. And what do these look like in practice?

Usually, pro-EU politicians shy away from reaching out to our Roma communities for fear of losing votes from the majority population and mobilizing those on the far right. However, they need to realize, there’s an effective way to speak about the Roma in public campaigning. They need to make clear that our exclusion from education and employment hurts our economies, creating financial loss for everyone. Their message should be that it’s necessary to invest in every EU citizen in order to address the bloc’s alarming labor shortages and living costs.

Furthermore, the Roma have always been loyal. One need not look to history for proof of this: Right now — even as they remember how unfair Ukraine has been to them — the Roma are fighting for Ukraine, defending European values. Unlike far-right politics, which thrive on attacking fellow citizens, Roma politics are about coexistence.

Whatever the immediate result of this election, pro-EU politicians have a major task at hand. They need to regain credibility and trust among their own constituencies — and that includes the working class, rural voters, women, the Roma and others they’ve ignored, disappointed and angered.

Emulating the far right’s arguments on issues like migration, hoping to reach these groups is self-defeating. For the European project to survive, these politicians must build bridges with more of their citizens — not burn them.