Historic decline: For the first time since 2004, the European Parliament has no Romani representatives

We had several candidates running in various countries. In the Czech Republic, David Beňák ran for the ANO movement, Ivana Batthyány for The Left (Levice) and Jaroslav Miko for the Mayors and Independents.

In Slovakia, Peter Pollák sought re-election and Dominik Lakatoš ran for the Volt party. Hungary ran Bogdán Csaba with the Tisza movement.

In Bulgaria, Vanya Grigorova ran, and in Belgium, Dejan Stankovic Kralj ran for the CD&V. None of these Romani candidates were elected.

The one who came closest was Bogdán Csaba, who ran in eighth place and whose party won just seven seats. It is, however, possible that the leader of the Tisza candidate list will decline to be seated, which would mean Csaba would then be seated instead.

Overall, the outcome is not good news – Europe is heading to the right. However, despite fears that they would not manage, the big parties did maintain a more or less similar position to the last elections.

The center has been reinforced, the center-right parties did not suffer a big defeat, but the left lost more seats – for example, the Greens are quite weak now. The anticipated victory for the radical right-wing parties is not as catastrophic as was feared.

There is still a chance that it will be possible to create a big centrist coalition for some basic decisions. We will have to wait a while to see how the parties reach consensus, and also to see what consequences this political configuration is going to have for the composition of the European Commission.

Be that as it may, this will influence the agenda for human rights overall and the impact on minorities will be big. The work of international pro-Romani and Romani organizations will become harder.

To have no Romani political representation means losing political influence. It may not seem like it, but the EP influences our lives, and without representation, minorities will have less influence on the political decision-making that directly impacts their lives, which can keep cycles of exclusion and inequality in place.

It could happen that less attention will be paid to minorities and that the advocacy for the interests of the Roma will ultimately make slower progress on crucial issues influencing Romani communities. Unfortunately, the impact will not just be on minorities, but in the bigger picture will also be on the environment, for example.

During the previous two electoral periods there was a special working group in the EP, established by MEP Soraya Post, with members from across party lines, called the Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup – ARDI. The existence of that working group was important, its members, more than 200 MEPs total, advocated for racial equality together, they fought discrimination in education and racism.

Romani MEPs were mainly in the leadership of that working group. The continued existence of that group is distinctly endangered now.

This electoral period will decide the budget of the EU as of 2028, and the EU Framework for Roma Policy applies just to the year 2030. The next EP elections will be held in 2029, so the preparation and adoption of that policy could be passed by the current EP.

Now it will very much depend on who is going to be willing to profile herself or himself as a pro-Romani politician, with whom such politicians will be able to start cooperating and how that cooperation will work across the factions in the EP. In the past, the Romani MEPs were dispersed among different factions but collaborated quite well with each other nonetheless.

We shall see what is in store for us, but it’s already clear that in the EU, the governance does not reflect the reality of the diversity and minority representation which should be Europe’s heritage. Unfortunately, we are also seeing that it is necessary to do even more to mobilize Romani people.

Our Romani candidates need better places on the candidate lists, and we have to vote for them – it is just not possible that the Romani nation, which is six million strong in the EU-27, will not be represented in the highest elected body of the European Union.