The Fundamental Right Agency’s influence in reforming EU Roma policy

Abstract

Six million Roma live in the EU, and most are EU citizens. Sadly, they are still the minority suffering the highest level of discrimination. To fight this, the European Commission has created and keeps reforming Roma-specific policies. In doing so, it usually relies on reports by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA). Yet, in existing literature, the FRA’s concrete influence is not studied, and only partial information exists. This paper fills this gap by looking into the extent to which the FRA influences EU Roma policy reforms. Through a multi-level governance approach and by differentiating between institutional and political activism, it analyses key EU policies and related reports. Moreover, it analyses insights provided by high-level experts in and outside of the EU institutions. The results show that the FRA is clearly the driving force behind Roma related policies, but that its leading role is not abused for gatekeeping other actors. Instead, the FRA involves non-EU stakeholders wherever possible, trains and supports, and keeps expanding programmes for participation. Hence, it can be expected that the gap between the FRA and other actors will be reduced in the future. For now, however, it is the key player behind EU Roma policy reforms.