Political and LEgal Position of the Romanies in Central and South-Eastern Europe Cover Image

Political and LEgal Position of the Romanies in Central and South-Eastern Europe
Political and LEgal Position of the Romanies in Central and South-Eastern Europe

Author(s): Goran Bašić
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Универзитет у Нишу
Keywords: Self-determining Political Nation; Ethno-political Engineering;

Summary/Abstract: The Romanies are perhaps the last European nation tending to be represented as a self-determining political nation. They have lately been trying to articulate their national goals such as: all the Romanies have to gather together in a unique movement, their national myths and institutions have to be identified, their collective rights have to be protected, their minority status has to be acknowledged, their poor social, economic, and education status has to be improved and the like. Europe was not always ready to understand the problems of the Romanies. Now the awareness of the urgent need to help the Romanies successfully and to integrate them into the society swiftly has been awakened. Thus, the idea of the Romanies as a non-territorial European minority has been accepted. Following this line of thinking, three subjects have to co-ordinate their activities when decisions on the position of the Romanies have to be made: 1. International institutions and organisations (CE, OEBS, EU), 2. National states regulating the rights and obligations of their citizens by internal codices (Germany, Finland, Macedonia, and Hungary acknowledged the status of the Romanies as the national minority; Slovakia enabled participation of the Romanies in the bodies of authorities; the governments of almost all the countries of the Southeast and Central Europe adopted programmes of integration of the Romanies population), and, 3. Regional and local bodies of authorities that can contribute to the improvement of the actual position of the Romanies by consistent respect and effectuation of the regulations of their constitutions and laws. The problems related to the status and development of the national idea of the Romanies can be expected particularly in contemporary societies where assumptions of ethnic toleration are endangered by politization and political instrumentalization of ethnos. The ethno-political engineering, and mere exploitation and misuse of ethnocentrism respectively, are based on prejudices, misconceptions and inherited ethnic divisions, which are strikingly felt when Romanies are in question.

  • Issue Year: 2001
  • Issue No: 08
  • Page Range: 491-516
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: English