West Balkans and Turkey

30 January 2007

Summary of Pressing Concerns

This document aims to provide a briefing for the Commission on Roma rights matters in countries/regions of the West Balkans and Turkey. The document was prepared in response to Commission communication of 9 June 2006.

As a general matter of very pressing urgency, with the single and sole exception of Kosovo, none of the countries/entities at issues (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey) have incorporated the European Union anti-discrimination directives into the domestic legal order to a level of sufficiency. This is of particular concern at the moment with respect to Croatia, given (i) the relative advancement of Croatia's candidacy for European Union membership, and (ii) the near-total silence in Croatia on the matter of adopting comprehensive anti-discrimination law in conformity with the Union acquis. The attention of the law- and policy-makers of all of the countries at issue here should be focused on the need to bring the legal order into compliance with EU law requirements, through the adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination laws.

Above and beyond anti-discrimination law matters, country-specific issues are raised below.

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