Praise to the hard work of the Hungarian EU Presidency and the Rapporteur

In the committee hearing Viviane Reding Commissioner for Justice and Fundamental Rights pointed out that she would not make any compromises on the directives of free movement and equal treatment and that she was ready to launch infringement procedures against those Member States that do not implement theses rules. According to the Commissioner's referral half of the Member States had already modified their rules regarding free movement, in line with the concept of borderless Europe.

Lívia Járóka rapporteur of the European Parliament's report on the EU Strategy on Roma Inclusion expressed her gratitude to Commissioner Reding for steadily standing up for the directives and her hope that the monitoring of Roma strategy would be equally strict. In her answer the Commissioner confirmed that the European Commission would finalize its Roma Task Force to provide technical assistance to Member States in drafting their national action plans. Reding also mentioned that approximately 26.5 billion euros would be available for social inclusion at EU-level, but governments would have to significantly change their ways in accessing and utilizing these funds in order to target the most vulnerable communities. According to the Vice-President called the launch of the strategy is a real miracle in which – besides the persistent work of the Hungarian EU Presidency – the European Parliament's report had played the utmost important role. Finally, she expressed her hope that at the European Council meeting on 24th June, the strategy will receive the highest level endorsement.