ABSTRACT
Perhaps more than any other minority group in Europe, the Roma have tried to reach beyond the boundaries of the national state to change local realities of marginalization. Roma activists have counted on the support of the EU to turn around the negligent attitudes of national governments. The further development of an EU framework that stimulates national states to design and implement social policies that protect Roma is no doubt necessary, but it may not be enough. In order to have real impact, the EU needs to address key obstacles of the area of social policy and human rights protection more broadly.
