Roma under fire in crisis-hit EU: Council of Europe chief
26/02/2013 - Europe's Roma are paying a high price amid the spiralling economic crisis, the head of the Council of Europe said Tuesday, warning that many more were likely to head westward as conditions deteriorate in the East.
"Minorities in Europe are coming under a lot more pressure than they have in a long time," Thorbjoern Jagland said in an interview with AFP ahead of an address at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"The tensions are really growing," he said, speaking in his native Norwegian.
"Many more Roma will be coming westward because the situation is so dire where they live" in the East, he said, pointing out that "when times are rough, it is the minorities who often suffer the most from economic hardship."