Merkel awarded Sinti and Roma civic prize

Angela Merkel had worked since becoming chancellor in 2005 in a "special way" to ensure that Sinti and Roma were recognized across Europe, said Romani Rose, chairman of the Central Council of Sinti and Roma in Germany.

Referring to Europe's largest minority, put at six million within EU nations, Rose said Merkel was "admired" for her straightforwardness, especially by Sinti and Roma, who lost 500,000 kin, murdered by Nazi-German occupiers across Europe during World War Two.

During Wednesday's ceremony in Mannheim, Rose pointed to the troubled 600-year history of Sinti and Roma in Europe.

The activist said that discrimination against Roma, known as antiziganism, must still be combated. The term antiziganism replaces the pejorative "antigypsyism" widely rejected by the minority.

"The chancellor has worked for the interests of the minority and stands as few others [do] for an open and democratic state committed to the rule of law," said Rose.

Merkel slams Roma discrimination as a 'disgrace'

Merkel, linked by video from Berlin, said overcoming discrimination was a "task for all" and required lots of steps, dialog and "jolting realizations" across Europe.

It was a "disgrace," also in Germany, that Roma still suffered prejudice and marginalization. "We must not overlook this," said Merkel.

The prize's 2019 recipient former Slovak president and philanthropist Andrej Kiska described Merkel as an extraordinary laureate who had been "upset" that "far too little attention has been paid for far too long" to the minority's wartime suffering.

"We will never forget all that you have done for Roma and Sinti, for nations and peoples exposed to oppression and neglect," said Kiska, addressing the ceremony from Bratislava.

Most Roma struggle with poverty

Half of Merkel's  €15,000 ($18,000) prize money will to the ternYpe International Roma Youth Network led from Brussels. She donated the other half to a neighborhood and job integration project called Grünbau in Dortmund, Germany.

Other past recipients of the Sinti and Roma prize were Simone Veil the late former president of the European Parliament in 2010 and Amnesty International in 2016. 

The EU's Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) based in Vienna says the plight of Roma remains "troubling," with 80% living below poverty thresholds and half aged between 6 and 24 not in employment, education or training — even before COVID-19.

ipj/dj (dpa, epd)