MEP Lívia Járóka participated at the 21st Congress of the European People's Party in Bucharest. She emphasized that the next multiannual financial framework of the EU must contribute to the strengthening of social cohesion and the inclusion of the 30 million poorest Europeans. Lívia Járóka also visited the Ferentari district of Bucharest and School 136 visited by the most deprived, largely Roma children of the neighbourhood.
The European People's Party (EPP) held its 21st Congress in Bucharest from 16 to 18 October. MEP Lívia Járóka, rapporteur of the European Strategy on Roma Inclusion commented on the seminar on regional policy and social cohesion during the study days organized by the parliamentary group of EPP. In response to the speeches of Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Regional Policy and Dacian Cioloş, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, she welcomed the proposals of the European Commission regarding the Structural Funds to introduce the proper implementation of national Roma inclusion strategies as a preliminary condition of accessing the funds. Járóka reminded that the European Parliament had extended the list of such preliminary conditions in several chapters from health care to education, in order to give priority to the integration of the most disadvantaged communities. She emphasized that the fourteen governments of the EPP must promote these amendments unanimously in the Council, in order to enable regional policy to help the most deprived and most marginalized 30 million European citizens.
Following the seminar, Lívia Járóka visited the Ferentari slum of Bucharest, mostly inhabited by Roma, and School 136 which facilitates the inclusion of the most disadvantaged children and functions also as a day-care centre.