CEU Democracy Institute (DI/CEU) released a report synthesising Member States’ civil society assessments of how national Roma strategies materialise in reality. The report provides a comprehensive, evidence-based assessment of National Roma Strategic Frameworks’ (NRSF) implementation and constitutes a major output of the Roma Civil Monitor initiative, implemented by a CEU-led consortium between 2021 and 2025 (RCM2).
A major undertaking in democratic accountability
The RCM2 project (2021–2025) stands as one of the European Union’s most significant undertakings in supporting Roma and pro-Roma civil society participation and enhancing government accountability in the field of fundamental rights. Funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG Just), the project was coordinated by the DI/CEU in partnership with the European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network (ERGO Network), the Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG), and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC).
By mobilising over 120 civil society organisations (CSOs) and national experts across 25 Member States, RCM2 has established an independent monitoring mechanism designed to parallel state reporting. This synthesis report consolidates findings from the 2024/2025 monitoring cycle, providing a comparative European perspective on how – and if – EU-level commitments are translating into local realities.
Vertical and horizontal implementation gaps
The report documents a persistent divergence between the objectives set out in the 2020-2030 EU Roma Strategic Framework and the lived experience of Roma communities. Despite the sophisticated policy architecture developed at the European level, and in some cases ambitious NRSFs, the synthesis identifies a “dual failure of governance” as a primary driver of stagnation.
Contrary to the common assumption that implementation failures are solely the result of lack of commitments or financial resources, the report provides evidence that local resistance is as obstructive as weaknesses at the national level. Even in the case of ambitious NRSFs, the central challenges consist of their weak connection to the respective sectoral national policies and a persistent gap between national-level commitments and local-level. This results in uneven territorial impact and a reliance on isolated initiatives and individuals’ commitments rather than systematised institutionalised practice.
Antigypsyism as the grammar of policymaking
A critical theoretical and practical finding of the report is the conceptualisation of antigypsyism not merely as a barrier to implementation, but as the underlying grammar of policymaking. The analysis suggests that institutional bias shapes how problems are defined and resources allocated across all policy domains.
- Participation: While the involvement of Roma and pro-Roma CSOs in drafting strategies has improved, their role in implementation and monitoring remains tokenistic. CSOs are frequently relegated to the status of subcontractors for short-term projects rather than being treated as partners in binding governance structures.
- Anti-discrimination and anti-racism: While legal frameworks exist, the report identifies a distinct lack of political will to enforce anti-discrimination laws or commit resources commensurate with the scale of the problem. Additionally, lack of data renders institutional discrimination statistically invisible, and measurement of policy effectiveness impossible.
- Education: Structural discrimination persists in the form of segregation and the misplacement of Roma children into special education, often compounded by “ethnically blind” data systems that prevent the accurate measurement of disparities.
- Housing: Investments frequently focus on in situ upgrading of segregated settlements rather than spatial desegregation, inadvertently reinforcing isolation.
- Employment: Labour market inclusion frequently suffers from an overreliance on public works schemes. They are characterised by low pay and no career progression, and eventually rather trap Roma participants in precariousness than facilitating their transition into the primary labour market.
- Child protection: A disturbing trend identified in the report is the systemic misclassification of material deprivation as parental neglect. This practice, compounded by discriminatory assessments and a structural deficit in preventive family support services, drives the disproportionate overrepresentation of Roma children in institutional care systems.
- Social protection: Mainstream social protection systems often fail to reach the most vulnerable due to stigmatising eligibility criteria and conditionalities, such as mandatory participation in public works schemes. In several Member States, the adequacy of minimum income benefits remains critically low, failing to provide a genuine safety net against severe deprivation
Exclusion is not inevitable
Although these systemic barriers dominate the landscape, they do not fully determine it. The RCM also documents meaningful progress in some Member States and localities. These examples show that change is possible when political will, governance structures, and community engagement align. Spain continues to demonstrate integrated approaches to desegregation and housing. Italy has begun to abandon the decades-long paradigm of segregated campi nomadi, with several cities and regions advancing inclusive housing and placing new emphasis on increasing educational participation. Czechia has initiated reforms on data collection; Bulgaria has regularised address registration for residents of informal settlements; Finland has developed Roma-led family support models; and Roma civil society has gained stronger roles in monitoring committees in several Member States. These promising examples do not negate the broader challenges, but they illustrate the conditions under which progress is possible. They show that exclusion is not inevitable; it is produced by choices, and can be undone by different ones.
Towards obligation-based governance
The synthesis report concludes that the current “commitment-based” approach to Roma inclusion has reached its limits. To achieve the targets set for 2030, the report argues for a strategic shift toward “obligation-based governance”.
Key policy recommendations emerging from the analysis include:
- Embedding equality in sectoral law: Moving Roma inclusion from standalone strategies into the core machinery of public administration and mainstream sectoral legislation.
- Binding local implementation: Establishing clear delivery standards and obligations for municipalities to prevent the discretionary application of national strategies.
- Enforcement of EU rules: The European Commission should consistently use infringement procedures and pursue litigation when Member States breach anti-discrimination law.
Read the full report at:
How to quote the report:
Roma Civil Monitor. (2025). Civil society’s assessment of the implementation of the National Roma Strategic Frameworks in the EU. Synthesis report. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.