ReportApril 2022
Digital rights / online hate speech
Synthesises a year of monitoring by young Roma peer-educators across nine countries, finding "crimes committed by Roma" as the dominant online narrative. Documents both explicit and coded hate speech and calls for stronger platform moderation and legal tools.
Response / reactionJuly 2022
The EU's 2022 Spring Package acknowledged Roma as among the groups hardest hit by Covid-19, but this review finds them mentioned in only 7 of 27 Country Reports and just one Country-Specific Recommendation (Hungary), with ethnic minorities, racism, and antigypsyism absent from every document. Civil society involvement fared no better, appearing in a handful of Reports and just one Recommendation Preamble, despite social partners being referenced in all 27. The response calls for Roma to be explicitly prioritised in EU recovery funds and for stronger synergies with the EU and national Roma Frameworks.
ReportNovember 2022
Healthcare
Roma communities across Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain face life expectancy gaps of up to 18 years compared to the majority population, this report finds, driven by poverty, poor housing, unaffordable care, and widespread antigypsyism in medical settings. Access is further blocked by health insurance gaps, rural staff shortages, and a lack of cultural awareness among providers, while Roma health mediators play a crucial but under-supported bridging role. The report calls for universal, affordable, non-discriminatory healthcare and better data collection to inform EU and national Roma policy.
Policy briefingDecember 2022
Roma with disabilities face compounding discrimination in education, employment, healthcare, and housing, this EDF/ERGO Network briefing finds, citing FRA data showing just 11% of those with high support needs are employed and 90% face poverty risk. It calls on the EU to close gaps between Roma and disability policy frameworks and fund targeted inclusion measures.
Response / reactionJanuary 2023
ERGO Network welcomes the 2023 Annual Sustainable Growth Survey for naming Roma explicitly and citing the EU Roma Strategic Framework, with the Joint Employment Report going further on poverty, education, and healthcare gaps. But antigypsyism and racism remain absent, housing is unmentioned, and Roma issues stay framed mainly through employment. ERGO calls for stronger links to the EU Roma Framework going forward.
Recommendation paperFebruary 2023
ERGO Network broadly welcomes the EU's January 2023 social dialogue initiative but points out a major gap: Roma workers go unmentioned in both the Council Recommendation and the Communication, alongside a wider silence on ethnic minorities, racism, and discrimination. The response also notes that union-decline data is split by gender but not by race or other factors, and calls for a matching EU initiative on civil dialogue.
Response / reactionJuly 2023
ERGO Network's 2023 Spring Package review finds Roma nearly invisible in the EU's European Semester: only 7 of 27 Country Reports mention them, just one Recommendation Preamble does (Hungary), and terms like discrimination and antigypsyism are almost entirely absent. Civil society consultation was also minimal. ERGO urges the EU to explicitly prioritise Roma in policy and funding, or risk continuing to leave them behind.
ReportNovember 2023
Housing
Most Roma effectively experience homelessness under the standard EU definition, that's the headline finding of ERGO Network's 2023 report on Roma housing across six countries, plus benchmarking from Ireland, the Western Balkans, and Türkiye. It documents segregated settlements, forced evictions, and environmental hazards, and calls for desegregation plans, expanded social housing, and stronger anti-discrimination enforcement.
Response / reactionAugust 2026
ERGO Network welcomes the Roma being mentioned in the 2024 Annual Sustainable Growth Survey and repeatedly in the Joint Employment Report, on issues like poverty, early school leaving, and housing but flags that antigypsyism and racism are absent entirely, and discrimination barely mentioned. It calls for stronger, more explicit synergies between the European Semester and the EU Roma Strategic Framework going forward.
