"Roma" or "gipsy" controversy

The organisations that fight for Roma people’s rights bitterly criticize the decision of the committees for human rights and equal opportunities of the Senate, which on Wednesday accepted the proposal of PDL deputy Silviu Prigoană to replace the term "Roma" with "gipsy" in all the Romanian official documents.

The Roma Civic Alliance of Romania accuses the committee members that they are not familiar with the Constitutional and European provisions which entitle ethnic groups to choose their identification term and hopes that a deputy who will represent Roma people in the Deputy Chambers, which is the decisional chamber, could influence the vote in this case.

David Marc, who is the president of the Alliance, says that the Senate sends a highly negative signal to society and to the European Community and equally contests the amendment which accompanies the decision taken yesterday.

The amendment forbids the attribution of negative connotations to the word "gipsy".

"If senators and members of the Parliament think that the terms used in spoken language could change their different connotations the way they pass laws, they are… I can’t even say; I would send them back to school."

"Currently, according to the Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language , the term "gipsy" has the following official meanings: a person with an antisocial attitude, an unwanted person.

It is a very bad signal sent to the Roma community in general, but to the European partners also’, David Marc stated.

"Gipsy" without negative connotations

The commission for human rights of the Senate adopted an amendment which states that the attribution of negative connotations to the word "gipsy" is forbidden.

As an answer, the president of the PAKIV organization, Nicolae Gheorghe, hopes that the initiative will not be approved by the Deputy Chamber, which is the decisional chamber.

PNL senator Puiu Haşotti believes that the Roma people will not be offended if they are called gypsies.

"I personally know and appreciate many Romanian citizens which come from gypsy families and they have no problem in being called gypsies and it is even a pleasure for them to be called like that.

I don’t think they will feel upset, they have no reason to, after all, they have been called gypsies for seven centuries."

"It is not a pejorative appellation, it is not offending, they are citizens of this country, and they are respected as such and I believe that the decision, which has been taken with a majority of 10 to 3, speaks for itself in this problem and it does nothing but favour them", Puiu Haşotti stated.

The Roma Civic Alliance of Romania is asking the Romanian authorities to postpone this year’s census until the Parliament will take a final decision concerning the terminology used for the public identification of the Roma people.

Translated by: Iulia Grosu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University