ABSTRACT
The European Union has placed Roma inclusion on its political agenda, demonstrating its willingness to take a leadership role in addressing the marginalization of the largest European ethnic minority. The data outlining Spanish success and pointing out Slovak underperformance is predominately focused on European Social Fund (ESF) activities, with only limited references made to other funds. The accounts of Spanish success and Slovak failure are not simply a figment of the political imagination, and divergence in outputs can indeed be observed. Self-identification often leads to the under-representation of Roma in data collection efforts, external identification on the basis of visual observation risks over-representing individuals who correspond to the observer's stereotypical view of who a Roma person is. Slovakia has experienced excessive delays in launching proposals under ESF priorities. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
