Spanish policy and Roma

15 August 2001

Fernando Villarreal¹

The importance of cultural diversity is widely recognised in Spain, due to the pronounced regional differences in the country. Nevertheless, the Constitution of 1978 recognises various groups only on a territorial basis (Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, etc.), while ignoring those ethnic groups which lack a regional territorial link. Roma have lived in Spain since the beginning of the 15th century, and have suffered numerous attempts at expulsion, repressive control and forced assimilation in the 500 years that followed. The Constitution of 1978 formally placed Spanish Roma on an equal legal footing with other Spanish citizens. Article 14 guarantees equality and full citizenship, and prohibits discrimination on grounds of racial origin, religion and gender for all citizens. Despite this formal recognition, and in spite of the considerable numbers of Roma in Spain and their important contributions to Spanish culture (including music, dance, literature, language), the political will to promote their integration by tackling historic discrimination has to date been insufficient. A lack of effective guarantees has led to a gap between the formal rights proclaimed by the Constitution and the exercise of those rights by Roma.

This article aims to shed light on enduring deficits in public policy-making towards Roma in Spain. Particular focus will be paid to the central government's 1988 "Roma Development Programme" (Programa de Desarrollo Gitano)², the only structured policy plan specifically addressing the Romani issue with some degree of holistic vision³. In the year 2000, after the Programme had run for twelve years, the Spanish non-governmental organisation Asociación Secretariado General Gitano⁴ carried out a small survey to evaluate the Programme⁵. The main findings of this survey provide the basis for the conclusions presented in this article.

Roma in Spain - an overview

Ever mindful of the risk of generalisations, a brief background of the situation of Spanish Roma is necessary in order to understand the context in which policies have been developed. Reliable estimates of the Romani population in Spain range between 600,000 to 800,000 out of a total general population of nearly 40 million. Nearly half of the Roma in Spain live in the southern region of Andalucia, the autonomous community with the largest Romani population. Roma comprise approximately 3 percent of the total population of Andalucia. Large Romani communities are also found in Madrid, Valencia and Catalonia. There is also an unknown number of Portuguese Roma (Ciganos) and a small population of Roma from Eastern Europe (approximately 3000 - mainly from Romania), most of the latter of very recent arrival.

The Romani population is young in comparison with the population at large; around half of the Spanish Roma are less then 16 years old and the birth rate of Roma is much higher than among the general population⁶. Spanish Roma are also very diverse and heterogeneous. Cultural differences among Spanish Romani peoples are in part related to regional differences and in part due to various historical and cultural factors⁷. Moreover, Spanish Roma are currently going through a period of important change. Several generations ago, for example, the majority of Roma lived in rural areas and small towns, but in recent decades many Roma have moved to urban areas. There has also been a gradual decrease in the birth rate and the number of children per family. The average age of marriage is also increasing, although it is still lower than the general population⁸.

There is a relatively small Romani upper-middle and middle class, composed of professionals, artists, craftspeople, and small businesspeople. On the other hand, a considerable number of Roma live in extreme poverty, and the percentage of Roma who are below the poverty line is roughly five times higher than for the general population⁹. These two classes are perhaps the most visible, which might mean there is a lack of documentation about lower class Romani families, who although threatened by precarious social conditions, do not face severe exclusion.

The Roma Development Programme

The consolidation of a welfare system and the universalisation of some basic social rights during the 1980s have undoubtedly benefited Spanish Roma in terms of substantial improvement in the living conditions of many of them. Additionally, some projects have been initiated to deal with situations of social exclusion suffered by many Roma. However, it was not until 1985 that the Spanish government began to address the issue of adopting a comprehensive policy on Roma.

On October 3, 1985, the Spanish Parliament approved a motion¹⁰ to launch what was initially called the "National Plan for the Development of Roma" (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Gitano)¹¹, as well as an administrative unit to address the problems of the Spanish Romani Community. It was also agreed that this plan would be developed in co-ordination with various ministries and would have independent powers and its own budget. Furthermore, the administrative unit would co-ordinate various bodies at the regional and local level in order to ensure proper planning of the measures to be undertaken. According to the provisions of the motion, which inspired the later Programme, the aim of the initiative was to confront the historic discrimination suffered by the Spanish Romani population. To meet this goal, the various levels of public administration would address the needs of Roma in the fields of health, housing, education, labour and culture, as well as facilitating coexistence with the rest of society. It was also stated that the policies and measures to be developed should be aimed at making social integration compatible with the promotion of Romani culture. This text constituted the very first strategic policy approach to Spanish Roma, although, as will be seen later, results have fallen far short of stated goals.

After a transition period, in which the development of the carried motion remained the responsibility of the Office of the Prime Minister (Ministerio de la Presidencia), in 1988 the administrative unit was created and assigned to the Directorate General of Social Action within the Ministry of Social Affairs¹². A reformulation of the objectives of the administrative unit resulted in the body being assigned the following mission:

• improvement of the living conditions of Spanish Romani citizens', until they reach levels equivalent to those of the general population;
• promotion of the social inclusion of Roma through improved access to, and use of, standardised social protection networks;
• establishing participatory channels for Roma on issues affecting Roma, and promoting the full integration of Roma in public and social life;
• encouraging better relations among various social and cultural groups and preventing racist attitudes and behaviour by fostering respect towards, and solidarity with, Romani culture.

The main guidelinesof the Programme were formulated as:

• collaboration with the central government, the regional autonomous governments and local authorities;
• providing technical and financial assistance to Romani organisations and other non-profit organisations;
• co-ordinating with the ministries of the central government, particularly the Ministry of Social Affairs;
• facilitating the participation of Roma in official institutions;
• disseminating Romani culture and fostering social concern about the situation of Roma;
• organising training programmes for professionals working with Roma.

The State General Budget included specifically targeted funds for the Romani programme for the first time in 1989. The sum was 500 million pesetas for that year (around three million euros, according to today's exchange rate) for what was ultimately called the "Roma Development Programme". Since then, this sum has become a stable item within the state budget and an identical amount has been distributed annually to the regions to support projects related to Roma. Projects are pre-selected and submitted by the regional autonomous governments and must fulfil criteria set by the central government. Final selection and funding for each project is carried out jointly by both the central and the regional administrations. The national funds must be co-financed by the regions and local authorities. These must contribute at least 40 percent of the total costs of the projects. They sometimes match national funding, which means in practice that the total amount allocated is often larger. The formal instrument for this collaboration is an agreement signed by representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the regional autonomous governments.

In addition to the central administrative unit created to manage the Programme - called the "Roma Development Programme Service Unit" (Servicio Programa de Desarrollo Gitano) -, three co-ordination boards were also set up. First, in 1989, a "Follow-up Committee" (Comisión de Seguimiento), comprised of representatives of the Directorate General of Social Action, regional autonomous governments and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, was established. The basic function of this body was to monitor the Programme to ensure proper realisation of the established objectives, as well as proposing mechanisms for improved implementation of the Programme. Also in 1989, an "Inter-ministerial Working Group" (Grupo de Trabajo Interministerial) was formed in order to co-ordinate the various areas of responsibility (social affairs, education, culture, health, infrastructure, home affairs, social security) with the goal of improving living conditions for Roma. Finally, in 1990 a "Consultative Commission" (Comisión Consultiva) was formed with representatives from the Directorate General of Social Action and from various national Romani organisations. The purpose of this commission was to ensure close co-operation between the public officials and the Romani non-governmental sector in implementing the Programme, as well as in providing shared feedback to the Programme's execution. Regional federations of Romani organisations also joined this body in 1993.

After 12 years

The Roma Development Programme Service Unit has published an activity and financial report annually since 1995. The most recent available report was published in November 2000 and refers to the year 1998¹³. According to the data provided since 1995, the following quantitative results can be seen:

• An average of 100 projects have been implemented annually since 1995. In 1998, there were 120.
• More than 500 employees implement the projects each year; Roma comprise around 22 percent of these.
• There are around 50,000 direct beneficiaries per year, approximately 12,000 families.

The range of the projects shows a noteworthy diversity of approaches and activities. Nevertheless, most of them relate to the fields of education, basic social assistance, habitat and housing (including housing repair and resettlement support), health education (for example, courses for young mothers and drug abuse prevention programmes), and vocational training courses. Other fields of action include school absenteeism prevention, after-school support and leisure activities and adult education. A few projects focus on cultural activities, such as classes in the Romani language or exhibitions.

Apart from the local projects, the Roma Development Programme Service Unit has also undertaken some activities focusing on sensitivity training for civil servants. Such training programmes began in 1992 and have aimed at improving the ability of regional and local administrators to address Romani issues. These training sessions have consisted of courses of about thirty hours each, focusing on various aspects of Romani culture. Moreover, though rather infrequent, some roundtables featuring experts, Romani representatives and civil servants have been organised. Lastly, the Roma Development Programme Service Unit has frequently protested against instances of stereotyped negative images of Roma in the media¹⁴.

Other important results include:

• the fact that central government transfers must be locally co-financed, which has helped place the Romani issue on the agenda of the regional autonomous governments;
• the creation of the Roma Development Programme Service Unit within the Ministry of Social Affairs, which has brought into existence a contact point for organisations, individuals, politicians and members of Parliament working in the field of Romani issues;
• that many Roma have benefited in some way or another from the diverse projects set up under the Programme.

Main shortcomings

Although it is undeniable that the Programme has had positive results, results that may be the basis for further progress in the future, it has shown notable deficiencies. These are due primarily to shortfalls in the general strategic approach of the Programme as a whole.

At the very beginning of the work of the Programme, a framework paper was elaborated by technical staff, focusing in some depth on strategic lines of action. Very little is known today about this paper - it was never disseminated - except that it was reportedly well received by some experts. There was little effort made to distribute it widely or to achieve a broad consensus around it. Funds were made available and the Programme launched on the basis of the paper, but the lack of a clear and public strategy has negatively affected its subsequent development and implementation.

There is broad consensus among the interviewees in the Asociación Secretariado General Gitano survey that the Romani issue has never been given sufficient political consideration, and that this is a major obstacle to the ultimate effectiveness of government efforts. Only at the beginning of the development of the Programme were high-level elected officials involved. Since then, lower level officials have run the Programme and attended the irregular meetings of the co-ordination boards.

The Follow-up Committee, comprised of the Directorate General of Social Action and the representatives of regional administrations, has functioned on a regular basis. However, far from the original purpose, this co-ordination only occurs at a technical level, dealing merely with aspects related to administrative procedures and credit transfers. Due to the lack of high ranking delegates on the board, the body has not served as a place for designing common strategic guidelines nor for the exchange of know-how. The results of the other two co-ordination boards are even less impressive. Despite initial intentions, no stable structure of inter-departmental co-ordination has been consolidated, and as a result, little multidimensional integration of various policy domains has taken place. Lastly, although most of the initiatives are somewhat linked to Romani organisations at the implementation level, co-ordination with Romani associations at an institutional level has been rather poor. All the interviewees agree that there are deep-rooted obstacles to overcome if this dialogue is ultimately to become fluent and productive. However, far from moving to improve this situation, Consultative Commission meetings have become progressively infrequent, and there have been none since 1999.

The lack of political will is also illustrated by the fact that the funds allocated yearly for the implementation of the Programme (approximately three million euros at today's exchange rate), have remained the same for over a decade, not even increasing to take inflation into account. This seems to indicate that there is very little concern to see the Programme as a process for continual development, something which should be a necessary feature of such a policy initiative. Local co-funding also has not increased significantly. Furthermore, mechanisms for the transfer of funds are slow, resulting in payments being delayed for up to a year in some cases, and there is very little transparency in the co-funding mechanisms.

There is also a high level of agreement among interviewees that no systematic evaluation of the Programme has been undertaken. The information that regions provide to the Roma Development Programme Service Unit concerning the projects is almost exclusively related to spending. Thus, the Ministry knows what types of activities receive funding, but information about outcomes, real impact or good practices is missing. The information is collected through simple standardised questionnaires that permit a very general comparison between data obtained from the various regions, but provide little insight as to the social profit of the projects being funded. What seems clear at this point is that no great progress has been made in accomplishing the integral coherence necessary to build up a national policy plan.

Lessons and challenges

In the light of the foregoing, some conclusions can be drawn about what Spanish policy developments should focus on in the short term, taking into consideration some contextual factors, both at a national and at a European level. In the first place, new forms of policy-making and programme implementation must be developed in relation to Roma. The current situation clearly demands deep and thorough-going reconsideration in order to guarantee the effectiveness of future measures. Proper planning, new evaluation methods, new forms to guarantee the effective participation by Roma and genuine political will at the highest institutional level are minimum conditions for fashioning a better policy.

In 1999, a Parliamentary Commission was created to "study the problem of Roma." This in itself indicates a new determination to open serious and broad debate about this issue at the highest institutional level. The recognition of the rather poor results reached during the first attempt, and the re-initiation of parliamentary concern about this issue, could help bring new public awareness regarding the need to improve conditions for Roma in Spain.

It is also important to note the incipient tendency towards introducing Romani issues in various sector policies. The most meaningful example to date has been in the field of employment policy. Both the European Social Fund in Spain and the National Employment Plan have mentioned the Romani population as a specific priority. This is due in great part to the awareness of the employment issue in the European Union, particularly in regards to disadvantaged groups.

At a European level, new European Union legal and policy instruments¹⁵, based on the provisions of Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty, constitute a historic opportunity to deal with one of the central problems Roma face: racial discrimination. Although they are rarely victims of virulent racially motivated attacks in Spain, a set of widely socially assumed prejudices, practices and attitudes of rejection toward Roma pervade in Spain. There is significant evidence of multiple and diverse dynamics of institutional discrimination against Roma. At the same time, there is insufficient recognition of these phenomena. Moreover, there are relatively few denouncements, although various initiatives report a wide range of discriminatory practices against Roma¹⁶. EU instruments must be used to stimulate a greater awareness about the enormous incidence of discrimination against Roma and can be an important basis for efforts to combat it. The improvement of the social situation of Roma, as new generations come of age and enter the mainstream labour market and other areas of Spanish society in numbers not seen before, could lead to new manifestations and forms of discrimination.

The current public and political awareness of the immigration issue in Spain should not obscure the inequalities suffered by Roma. Immigration from Africa and South America is a relatively new phenomenon in Spain, and recently much attention has been paid to the problems of discrimination, exclusion and racism against immigrants, in sharp contrast to the lack of acknowledgement that these same problems affect Romani citizens of Spain. It would not be the first time that Roma have benefited the least from measures aimed at tackling inequalities.

A new approach should emerge to deal with Romani problems, and justice demands guaranteeing full access to public goods and services and full exercise of citizenship. This approach must at the same time promote Romani cultural affirmation as a necessary prerequisite for truly intercultural dynamics.

Last but not least, on the basis of the long historical tradition and important Roma presence in Spain, Spanish authorities must take responsibility for leading an awareness campaign in the European policy arena regarding the Romani issue. The enlargement of the EU to the Central and Eastern European candidate countries will bring in its wake a substantial growth in the number of Romani citizens of the EU. This perspective calls for investing joint efforts in setting a consistent inclusive and anti-discriminatory framework for the Romani population.

Endnotes:

1. Fernando Villarreal is a sociologist who works on issues of minority policy in Spain and across Europe. He is currently international officer of the organisation Asociación Secretariado General Gitano.
2. The terms "gitano" (male) or "gitana" (female) are the most commonly used to refer to Spanish Roma both by Roma themselves, as well as by others. However, one can still find derogatory uses of the term: the Spanish Royal Language Academy dictionary, for example, includes as one meaning of "gitano", "one who swindles and uses trickery." Strictly speaking, Spanish Roma belong mostly to the Calé line. This term, although widely known, is rarely used in the course of everyday conversation. On the other hand, the term "Roma" is not familiar at all to a wide segment of the public.
3. Some brief notes are useful to give a vision of the policy-making styles in Spain and, in particular, the ways in which social problems are dealt with. First, the Spanish political and administrative system has developed towards a decentralised model as foreseen in the Constitution of 1978, in which regional autonomous governments (Comunidades Autónomas), and even municipalities, have wide powers. The field of social services was one of the first spheres of competence to be transferred to regional governments, and in the second half of the 1980s most of them promulgated their own Social Services Acts. This has led to a situation in which the responsibility in this field is shared by various levels of the state, often without clear boundaries. Relations between the various levels of authorities are at times characterised by competition in relation to public funds. Disputes occasionally arise over overlapping powers. Besides the general provisions of public policies, Spanish governments have dealt with situations or problems considered in need of priority action through "policy plans". Such strategic plans have been launched in order to shape a set of measures, co-ordinated among various administrative levels. Thus, the "Roma Development Programme" was initially conceived in the mid 1980s, under the Socialist government (the first in Spain since the 1930s), with the objective of providing a supra-regional coherency to action in favour of Spanish Roma.
4. Asociación Secretariado General Gitano (ASGG) is a non-profit organisation established in 1982. The main aim of the organisation is to work for the advancement of Spanish Roma while respecting the specific values and cultural diversity which characterise them. Over 300 Romani and non-Romani employees throughout Spain work for the organisation in various capacities. The ASGG also acts at the institutional level as policy advisor for various governmental bodies. For more information on the ASGG, see www.asgg.org.
5. This survey was carried out between the months of August and November 2000 in the framework of a wider transnational project called "Targeting Roma in inclusion programmes". The main goal of the project, piloted by ASGG with EU funding, was to explore recurrent deficiencies in policy approaches to Roma in five EU countries. The methodology consisted mainly in secondary data analysis as well as a set of semi-structured interviews with persons who had had or were still in close contact with some aspect of the Programme. The semi-structured questionnaire sought to gather personal assessments about strengths and weaknesses of the Programme, co-ordination, adequacy of the measures, resources, etc., as well as other issues highlighted by the interviewees.
6. Fresno García, J.M., Análisis socio-antropológico sobre la situación actual de la Comunidad Gitana en Espana. (Serie de Documentos Técnicos; 2); Madrid: Asociación Secretrariado General Gitano, 1994, p. 8-9.
7. San Román, T., La diferencia inquietante, Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno, 1997, p.79-81.
8. Fresno García, J.M., Op.cit., p.10.
9. Fundación Foessa, Las condiciones de vida de la población pobre en Espana, Madrid: Fundación Foessa, 1998, p.352.
10. Proposición no de Ley sobre creación de un órgano administrativo de atención a la comunidad gitana y de un plan nacional de desarrollo gitano (3 de octubre de 1985).
11. This was the first name used to refer the initial proposal and it has remained the term denoting the state budget credit allocated for the Programme.
12. Today the Directorate General of Social Action, the Minor and the Family, within the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
13. Servicio Programa de Desarrollo Gitano, Memoria del Programa de Desarrollo Gitano 1988, Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, 2000.
14. In recent years, there has been some improvement in this area due to the media paying more attention to ethical codes regarding the treatment of minorities. Nevertheless, there is little information about Roma or images reflecting the reality of Roma in the media, and when such information is provided, it is often stereotyped. In a 1997 investigation into Spanish press (Unión Romaní, Periodistas contra el Racismo?, Barcelona: Unión Romaní, 1997), it was found that 21 percent of news items about Roma had a clearly negative character.
15. a.) Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin; Official Journal of the European Union L 180 , 19/07/2000 p. 0022 ? 0026 - b.) Council Decision 2000/750/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a Community action programme to combat discrimination (2001 to 2006) .
16. For example, the organisation SOS RACISMO publishes an annual report documenting cases of racism and discrimination, including a chapter focusing on cases pertaining to Roma.