Voluntary Self-Declared Ethnicity Ascription EU Roma Travellers

Gypsy Awareness Lessons over at A Tangled Web. I have an earlier post on this subject.

The Daily Mail wades in.

It's now part of government education policy (although the word education rarely features any more): The Inclusion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children and Young People, The Inclusion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Pupils: strategies for building confidence in voluntary self-declared ethnicity ascription. I just love 'voluntary self-declared ethnicity ascription'.

No mention of the EU, which is the motivating force behind all this:

The European Union has a strong legal framework to combat discrimination. It uses the European Structural Funds and addresses the issue of Roma discrimination in its awareness-raising initiatives. Moreover, it coordinates a number of key policy areas which are particularly relevant for Roma inclusion, such as education, employment and social inclusion.

However, even the Czech Roma are complaining that EU cash is not proving effective.

On the EU Commission's website, The European Union and Roma, it says

For the purposes of this website, the term "Roma" includes persons describing themselves as Roma, Gypsies, Travellers, Manouches, Ashkali, Sinti, as well as other terms. General use of the term Roma is in no way intended to downplay or ignore the great diversity within the many different Romani groups and related communities, nor is it intended to promote stereotypes.

In other words, if I decide to sell up, buy a caravan and become a 'Traveller', I could declare myself ethnically a Roma? Or 'voluntarily self-declare my ethnicity ascription' as Ed Balls would say.

I didn't realise it was that easy.