The European Commission should rescind its invitation to Romanian president Traian Basescu to speak at the third European Roma Summit on April 4, according to a Roma rights activist.
The America-based ‘religious statesman’ Rajan Zed – founder of the Universal Society of Hinduism – said the Romanian president should be uninvited because of discriminatory Roma remarks he had made in the past.
In February, an official anti-discrimination agency fined Basescu 600 lei (USD 185) for saying Roma avoid work and make a living by stealing.
The agency fined Basescu for having said “very few of them (Roma) want to work” and “traditionally many of them live off stealing”, during a 2010 news conference in Slovenia.
Romania officially has 620,000 Roma (Gypsies) but the number is believed to be far higher because many do not declare their ethnicity to avoid widespread discrimination.
Around 500 representatives, including Le Bail, Barroso, Basescu, EC Vice-President Viviane Reding, various European Commissioners, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Zinaida Zlatanova, Ministers and State secretaries from nine EU Member States, Mayors, European Parliament members, are participating in the Summit in Brussels.