Spain's Tolerance of Gypsies: A Model for Europe

Antonio Moreno lives on what is reputedly Madrid's most dangerous street, where dealers openly offer any type of drug around the clock. He owns a four-bedroom house with a pool; he works out of his own photo and video studio - and he's a gypsy, one of the 40,000 inhabitants of an illegal settlement on the outskirts of the Spanish capital. Had they been in just about any other European country, Moreno and his neighbors would be the source of tension and controversy: On Tuesday, the E.U. called France's continued deportation of its gypsies a "disgrace" and threatened disciplinary action against the country. Suddenly, all across Europe, a community that's used to living on the fringes is now in the spotlight - and, in some cases, suffering heightened prejudice as a result. But Moreno isn't worried. Because when it comes to dealing with gypsies - also known as Roma - Spain is different.

"[The deportations] will never happen here," says Moreno. "We are integrated. I'm first Spanish, then gypsy, and I'm proud to be both." While many European countries see their Roma communities as problems to be tackled, Spain has embraced its gypsies, giving them rights, celebrating their history - making them feel at home. "Of course there is racism, but it's better here than anywhere else I've seen," Moreno says of his trips to Italy, France, Germany and the Czech Republic. "Spain has helped gypsies a lot." (See pictures of France cracking down on migrants.)

Indeed, 35 years after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, the lives of the Roma have improved dramatically. "We weren't even human before. We were animals," says Moreno of a time when authorities prevented gypsies from working, studying, or even gathering in groups bigger than four. Today, the European Commission, European Union member countries, and the Roma themselves all agree that Spain has become the model for integrating gypsies, often citing it as "a case of good practices." So good that the governments of Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and even Romania - where many Roma come from - are looking to Spain for ideas to apply themselves.

Of the between 10 and 12 million Roma living in Europe, Spain has the second biggest community, estimated at about 970,000, or around 2% of the total population. And the country spends almost 36 million euros annually bringing them into the fold. In Spain, only 5% of gypsies live in makeshift camps and about half of Roma are homeowners. Just about all gypsies in Spain have access to healthcare, and while no recent figures exist, at least 75% are believed to have some sort of steady income. (See "Who Are Gypsies, and Why Is France Deporting Them?")

Spain is also investing in an area that many experts believe is the key to keeping Roma out of poverty: education. Almost all gypsy children start elementary school (although only about 30% compete it) and more than 85% of the country's gypsies are literate. "Spain's use of European social funds is a good example for other member states," says E.U. Commission Vice President and Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding in an e-mail to TIME. "The Spanish government has shown that it is working on integrating the Roma population and we've seen some positive results."

Spain's two-pronged integration approach has been instrumental in those results, pairing access to mainstream social services with targeted inclusion programs. For example, Roma can have access to public housing and financial aid on the condition that they send their children to schools and healthcare facilities. Then there's the Gypsy Secretariat Foundation Acceder program, which experts say is one of the best integration initiatives in Europe. The program takes young unemployed gypsies, teaches them technical skills and helps them earn the equivalent of a high-school degree. At the end, they are placed in jobs through a series of agreements with private companies. It's been such a success that Romania's National Agency for Roma is now trying to implement its own version. (See pictures of immigration in Europe.)

But can the rest of Europe replicate Spain's success? Much of the country's good work in integrating Roma is thanks to its specific history with the community. In order to guarantee stability in a country split along nationalist lines, the constitution written after Franco's death was inclusive of all ethnic and cultures, thus shielding Roma from institutional exclusion. And because gypsies were the single-most impoverished population in the 1980s, they attracted the most development efforts.

Despite centuries of victimization, gypsies have also melded into Spanish mainstream culture - Flamenco dancing and traditional Spanish dress are both borrowed from the community. "Spanish gypsies also resisted integration efforts less than in other countries because they have been sedentary for centuries," says JosÉ Manuel Fresco, an adviser to the E.U. Commission on Roma issues and head of the Spanish government's antiracism commission. (Read: "Spain's Immigrants Suffer in Economic Downturn.")

Even if other E.U. countries do follow in Spain's footsteps and learn to love their Roma, that only solves half the problem. The best way to stop countries such as France and Italy from deporting gypsies is to ensure the gypsies are happy enough at home that they don't need to go to France or Italy in the first place. "Spain has done much more than other old member states [to integrate Roma], but now we have to make sure that success transfers to new member states," says Ivan Ivanov, executive director of the Brussels-based European Roma Information Office. "Then Roma migrations might stop." Deportations are futile, he says: "The gypsies will just come back in a few months. Policies need to be adopted now, or in five years the very same countries will complain of migrations from other countries."

Antonio Moreno would agree. A Spanish gypsy as far back as he can trace his roots, he can't imagine his family living anywhere else. And while he appreciates that his children get financial aid and the state pays for his grandchildren to go to school, he also believes that gypsies themselves have a responsibility to integrate. "Most gypsies are good people and want to coexist with others," Moreno says. "There are some who exclude themselves, but not us. We're staying in Spain because this is our home."

Source - Time (UK)