During the plenary session, Left MEP Estrella Galàn (Sumar, Spain) took the floor to shine a light on one of Europe’s most enduring injustices. She called out the deep-rooted racism faced by Romani people and the systemic barriers that continue to deny them equal rights. These words must serve as both a wake-up call and a demand for action—reminding the European Parliament that silence and inaction are no longer acceptable.

Left MEP Estrella Galàn (Sumar, Spain) said in the hemicycle: Mr. President, hatred toward the Roma people is one of the most deeply rooted forms of racism. More than ten million Roma people continue to suffer structural discrimination in Europe. This Parliament is an example of that: for the first time since 2004, there is not a single Roma MEP among us.

It is shameful that, in the 21st century, we still allow high school dropout rates, segregated schools, substandard housing in settlements and marginalized neighborhoods, and low employment rates, especially among Roma women. In my country, for example, it is alarming that 89% of Roma children are at risk of poverty.

However, the Commission has taken a step backward by withdrawing the Anti-Discrimination Directive. 

Commissioner, without tools to combat anti-Roma sentiment and remove barriers to accessing rights, the Roma inclusion strategy will be nothing more than an empty promise. How much longer will the Roma be considered “the others” instead of part of “us”? As the great Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said: “Oh, the sorrow of the Roma! / A sorrow pure and always alone.”