Berlusconi’s atrocious and controversial scheme to conduct a census of Italy’s Roma population based on ethnicity has been widely condemned by the European Parliament. In a symbolic protest, designed to raise awareness of the census, I joined MEP colleagues in Strasbourg to be fingerprinted. Of course, this was done entirely voluntarily on my part, whereas the Roma in Italy have no such choice. The Parliament also voted today on a resolution that highlighted the racism and discrimination faced by Roma across Europe and condemned the collection of fingerprints as a breach of European human rights law.
