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THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS



- welcomes the Communication from the Commission as tangible evidence of EU commitment towards promoting Roma communities integration and combatting the discrimination that they frequently experience, by means of national integration strategies;

- supports the Commission’s prioritisation of several structural preconditions that are important for a successful implementation of the integration strategies, notably working more closely with local and regional authorities and allocating proportionate financial resources;

- acknowledges that Roma women experience multiple discrimination and commits local and regional authorities to working with national government agencies and civil society to tackle this issue;

- reiterates the need to provide adequate funds to local and regional authorities who, through their policies play a strategic role in securing the inclusion of Roma children in pre-school and school systems;

- stresses that Roma integration strategies should be consistent with EU strategies for reducing poverty and social and economic exclusion, and calls for specific programmes and initiatives to be devised and implemented at local and regional level on the basis of concrete, measurable objectives;

- reiterates the importance of allocating appropriate financial and human resources to local authorities in order to enable them to contribute effectively to all phases of the implementation of Roma integration strategies.