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Executive summary
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bodies that decide on Roma policies (National Roma Contact Points) and those that
allocate the financial resources (Managing Authorities), aligning policies and financial
resources; its role in boosting the idea that Structural Funds are a key financial and
political tool to promote policies for Roma inclusion and in including Roma issues in the
agenda of ESF Managing Authorities; and its contribution to a more effective use of these
funds to promote Roma inclusion in the 2007-2013 and the 2014-2020 programming
periods, including through the incorporation of an explicit investment priority on Roma.
Roma inclusion in the Operational Programmes of the 2014-
2020 programming period
It is encouraging to observe that in the programming documents for the 2014-2020
European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds programming period
increased attention
is paid to Roma inclusion, with Roma people and Roma communities targeted to a large
extent and in a broad number of Operational Programmes (OPs).
While countries analysed use a wide variety of options
in terms of scope, funds, approaches,
thematic objectives, investment priorities and fields of intervention,
a number of general
trends are observed
(some of them similar to the ones in the 2007-2013 period).
Roma inclusion is commonly considered
, even in the countries with high percentages of
Roma population,
in general Operational Programmes
, instead of specific Operational
Programmes (or part of them) targeting Roma.
National and regional management
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There is a
general trend to address Roma inclusion in OPs at national level
, opting
for a centralised management not only of national lines of intervention but also of
regional and local ones.
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In some countries
Roma inclusion is also incorporated in the OPs at regional level.
However
, it appears that, except in certain cases, Roma feature
to a minor extent
in
regional OPs
compared to national OPs
, despite the attempts made by some countries
(by increasing the number of regional OPs addressing Roma inclusion or giving
them more capacity). In general terms,
there is little information on the extent and
how Roma inclusion is considered in regional programmes
in many countries, which
makes it difficult to assess the state-of-play and the progress made.