European Parliament approves Commission’s plan to improve housing conditions of minority groups.
On May 20th,
the European Parliament accepted a proposal that may very well change the lives
of all minority groups in Europe; provide them
with better housing conditions. Such provision will be financed by the European
regional funding, and welcomed by the Roma communities in particular. These represent around 10 to 12 million
people, fifty percent of which live in extremely marginalised and deprived
conditions.
Whereas before,
structural fund legislation was restricted for housing interventions in Member
States only, and renovations of dwellings could only be done in urban areas,
now with the new measures, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) has
extended its eligibility of intervention to marginalised communities of all Member States and allowed for the
construction and replacement of dwellings on both; urban and rural areas.
Housing is a crucial
factor for improving integration but not the only one. Johannes Hahn,
Commissioner for Regional Policy welcomed Parliament's decision which he said
would "allow regional policy to help to break the vicious circle in which these
communities seemed to be trapped; [and that] this should be part of an overall
approach
