We participated in various public consultations launched by the European Commission as part of its annual work plan on gender, combating racism and housing [editar]
Desde la Fundación Secretariado Gitano hemos hechos propuestas a los procesos de consulta abiertos por parte de la Comisión Europea.
The Fundación Secretariado Gitano has submitted proposals to the consultation processes opened by the European Commission. The European Commission has recently launched several public consultation processes, a key mechanism in its governance strategy that allows citizens, experts, organisations and authorities to contribute their opinions before final policies are formulated. These consultations are essential to ensure that decisions reflect real needs and expectations and to reinforce the transparency and legitimacy of the legislative process; they form part of its work plan for 2025.
At Fundación Secretariado Gitano, we have contributed to each of them, providing our vision of how the Roma population should be taken into account in each of these consultations. Below is a summary of the main initiatives open between May and July 2025, and others that are still open for consultation:
European Strategy against Racism
The Commission launched a public consultation to design the first comprehensive Strategy against Racism, which will replace the Action Plan against Racism in force until the end of 2025. The aim of the consultation is to gather input to help build a more equitable society, free from racial discrimination. At FSG, we believe it is essential that EU Member States and the EU continue to invest in monitoring and understanding anti-Gypsyism. Solid data is needed to estimate the severity of anti-Gypsyism and how its effects extend to essential rights such as employment, education, health and housing. This information should be useful in guiding the necessary and appropriate national and European policies to effectively eliminate it.
Gender Strategy
The current Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025 has promoted key measures such as wage transparency, work-life balance — especially in care —, parity on boards of directors and legislation against gender-based violence. Despite these advances, significant structural gaps remain. In response, on 7 March 2025, the European Commission presented the Roadmap for Women's Rights, a long-term political plan that includes a Declaration of Principles for a Gender-Equal Society.
This roadmap serves as the ideological basis for the design of the next post-2025 strategy.
On 11 July 2025, an open public consultation (called a ‘Call for Evidence’) was launched with a questionnaire accessible to diverse audiences—citizens, organisations, institutions, and experts—with the aim of gathering the views, proposals, and real needs of European society. FSG has contributed specific measures regarding the situation of Roma women, providing data on their particular vulnerability and the gender and intersectionality approach, as we have found that gender specificity particularly affects Roma women. FSG's contribution therefore focuses on providing contextual data on the situation of Spanish and European Roma women so that it can be taken into account when defining the priorities for action in the future EU Gender Strategy, ensuring that it incorporates the diversity and specificity of Roma women.
European Affordable Housing Plan
One of the objectives of this initiative is to ‘facilitate access to affordable, decent and sustainable housing for the most disadvantaged people, as well as for families and young people’ and it plans to incorporate strategic actions ‘always taking into account the needs of the most vulnerable’. This is the first time that the issue of housing has been addressed at European level, and the process has been divided into two phases. The first phase is a call for evidence. The FSG's contribution has focused on providing contextual data on the housing situation of the Roma population in Spain and Europe so that it can be taken into account when defining the priorities for action in the future European Affordable Housing Plan, as we understand that the first-ever EU Housing Policy Instrument must explicitly incorporate the most vulnerable and socially excluded housing situations, such as that experienced by the European Roma population.
On the other hand, on 11 July, an open public consultation was launched, which includes a detailed questionnaire on topics such as social housing, financing, state aid, construction and renovation, planning, the rental market, empty homes and second homes.
New Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights
On 18 June 2025, the Commission launched a public consultation and call for evidence to gather opinions on the impact of the 2021 Action Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights and suggestions for its renewal. This Pillar includes 20 principles that promote a socially just, inclusive and opportunity-rich Europe. The consultation will be open until 10 September 2025.
European Strategy against Poverty
On 28 July 2025, the first public consultation and call for evidence was launched to shape the new European Strategy against Poverty, which aims to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty by at least 15 million by 2030 and address the structural causes of the phenomenon. This phase will be open until 24 October 2025.
In summary, over the last two months, the Commission has opened public consultations to gather citizens' views and proposals on several key issues for European citizens, and in particular for Roma people. At Fundación Secretariado Gitano, we will continue to participate in these public consultation processes, which are an essential tool for demanding rights and concrete actions in favour of a more just, inclusive and racism-free society.