Portugal Faces EU Criticism Over Two-Year Gap in Romani Inclusion Strategy

Portugal has remained the only nation across the entire European Union without an active strategy to address the needs of its Romani communities for over two years, a policy vacuum that government officials now pledge will end "soon" with a draft document entering public consultation.

Why This Matters:

• Funding at Risk: The absence of a formal national strategy jeopardizes continued European financing for integration programs targeting Portugal's Romani population.

• Discrimination Record: Portugal ranked as the EU country where Romani people report the highest levels of discrimination, with 63% experiencing bias in the past year according to available EU Agency for Fundamental Rights data.

• Policy Limbo: Since late 2023, when the previous National Strategy for the Integration of Romani Communities (ENICC) expired, Portugal has operated without guiding principles for education, housing, health, and employment inclusion for this vulnerable minority.

• Bureaucratic Shuffle: Responsibility for Romani affairs is currently transferring from the migration agency (AIMA) to the gender equality commission (CIG), adding administrative complexity.

The Strategy Gap and Its Consequences

The previous National Strategy for the Integration of Romani Communities (ENICC), which had been extended beyond its original timeline, expired in late 2023—marking the beginning of Portugal's policy vacuum. This gap created what civil society organizations describe as a "political void" that threatens to reverse modest gains made over the preceding decade.

Data released by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights paint a stark picture: nearly half of Romani families in Portugal live in severe material deprivation, unable to cover basic household expenses. The country consistently ranks among EU members with the highest proportion of Romani people at risk of poverty. Housing conditions remain particularly dire, an area where advocates report minimal progress even when the strategy was operational.

The European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) and the Pastoral dos Ciganos—a Catholic Church outreach program—have both issued warnings that the absence of a coordinating framework allows historical inequalities in education, health access, and residential segregation to persist unchecked. Maria José Vicente, national coordinator for EAPN, emphasized that the missing strategy reflects weakened political commitment and raises the specter of backsliding on integration efforts.

The Socialist Party escalated the issue last week, formally questioning Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Margarida Balseiro Lopes—whose portfolio includes citizenship and equality oversight—about specific measures being deployed to combat anti-Romani discrimination in the policy vacuum.

Administrative Handoff Complicates Timeline

The Portugal Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) inherited coordination responsibilities for Romani strategy development when it absorbed functions from the former High Commissioner for Migration in late 2023. AIMA has been shepherding the creation of a successor strategy, informed by an impact evaluation of the expired ENICC framework and consultations with Romani associations, academic specialists, and civil society actors.

However, those same duties are now mid-transfer to the Portugal Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG), a separate government body. Minister Balseiro Lopes' office confirmed that working meetings between AIMA and CIG are underway to "operationalize this transition," which officials expect to complete "shortly"—without providing a concrete deadline. This institutional handoff adds another layer of uncertainty to an already delayed policy rollout.

What This Means for Residents

The new strategy represents more than bureaucratic paperwork. European Union funding streams for local integration projects—covering everything from school dropout prevention to workforce training and community health programs—depend on an approved national framework. Without one, municipalities and nonprofits face administrative barriers when applying for grants, and existing initiatives risk losing financial support.

For Portugal's estimated Romani population, the practical stakes are immediate. The revised strategy is designed to align with the EU Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of Roma 2020-2030, which shifts emphasis from passive "integration" language to active promotion of equality, inclusion, and participation. This semantic pivot signals a methodological change: Romani communities would be treated as partners in policy design rather than passive recipients of services.

The draft incorporates a participatory approach, meaning Romani associations will have formal input into how education subsidies are structured, how anti-discrimination complaint mechanisms function, and how housing relocation programs operate. It also addresses concerns raised by the Council of Europe about rising hate speech targeting Portuguese Romani citizens.

Local Programs Move Ahead Despite National Uncertainty

Even as the national strategy languishes, regional funding opportunities remain open. The PESSOAS 2030 program—Portugal's allocation of European Social Fund Plus resources—has active calls for proposals supporting "Local Plans for Romani Community Inclusion" in the Norte, Centro, and Alentejo regions. These applications accept submissions through June 2027 and finance municipal-level projects addressing employment barriers, school attendance, healthcare access, and affordable housing.

The disconnect highlights a paradox: local authorities can implement targeted interventions with EU money, but lack the overarching policy architecture that would coordinate those efforts nationally and establish consistent standards for monitoring results.

Portugal's Outlier Status in European Context

Every other EU member state maintains an active national Romani inclusion strategy, many of them now in their second or third iteration since the bloc established common guidelines in 2011. Countries like Spain, Romania, and Slovakia—which have substantially larger Romani populations—regularly update their frameworks and publish biennial implementation reports reviewed by the European Commission.

The Commission itself adopted a progress assessment of member state strategies in September 2024 and will issue another evaluation in 2026. Portugal's absence from that reporting cycle is conspicuous and has drawn informal criticism from Brussels, where officials note that the country benefits from EU anti-poverty funds while failing to maintain the policy infrastructure those resources are meant to support.

Best practices emerging from other member states emphasize multi-sectoral coordination (linking education, employment, health, and housing ministries), dedicated local mediation services staffed by Romani professionals, and anti-discrimination campaigns targeting majority populations. The pending Portuguese strategy reportedly incorporates similar elements, though details remain under wraps until public consultation begins.

Timeline Pressure and Public Scrutiny

Minister Balseiro Lopes' office insists the draft proposal is "being duly finalized" to ensure continuity of financing and expects it to enter public discussion "shortly." No specific month has been announced. The process has already stretched well beyond initial projections—advocacy groups sent an open letter in March 2025 expressing "deep concern" over the delay.

Once released for consultation, the draft will face scrutiny from Romani organizations, academic researchers, municipal governments, and European Commission observers. Portuguese law typically allows 30 days for public comment on policy documents of this scope, after which the text moves to Cabinet approval and parliamentary notification.

Civil society groups are preparing detailed feedback, particularly on how the strategy proposes to measure progress. Previous frameworks lacked robust data collection mechanisms, making it difficult to assess whether school enrollment rates improved, employment gaps narrowed, or health outcomes changed. Advocates are pushing for binding numerical targets and annual public reporting disaggregated by gender and age cohort.

The Broader Inclusion Debate

The delayed strategy arrives amid broader tensions around migration and integration policy in Portugal. AIMA itself has faced criticism over backlogs in visa processing and operational challenges following its creation. Transferring Romani portfolio responsibilities to CIG—a body focused on gender equality and human rights—signals that the government views this as fundamentally a civil rights and anti-discrimination issue rather than strictly a migration or ethnic minority matter.

That framing could reshape how resources are allocated and which government ministries take the lead on implementation. CIG has historically worked on domestic violence prevention, workplace discrimination, and LGBTQ+ rights; expanding its mandate to cover Romani inclusion represents a structural bet that horizontal anti-discrimination expertise matters more than vertical ethnic-community specialization.

Whether that institutional choice accelerates or hinders progress remains uncertain. What is clear: Portugal's more-than-two-year hiatus without a Romani inclusion strategy has already eroded the country's credibility on minority rights within European forums, and the clock continues to tick on funding that dozens of community organizations depend upon to keep their programs running.