The second wave of the European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey aims to assess progress made over the past five years, since the first survey in 2008. This second survey will collect comparable data in all 28 EU Member States to support the EU in protecting the fundamental rights of people with an immigrant or ethnic minority background, including Roma. It also aims to populate core indicators for measuring progress in the implementation of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies as well as selected indicators on immigrant integration.
The survey covers topics such as experiences of discrimination in different areas of life (labour market, education, housing, health and other services), criminal victimisation (including hate crime), social inclusion and societal participation.
EU-wide, there is a lack of data on manifestations of discrimination, racism, and related intolerances. Where data has been collected, the divergent end-purposes and methodologies mean that it is not possible to have an overview of the situation at the EU level, and comparisons between EU Member States are difficult. The survey responds to calls for better data on the situation of immigrants and ethnic minorities.
The survey results aim to provide useful comparable data on the actual impact on the ground of EU and national anti-discrimination and equality legislation and policies. This can guide policy makers in developing more targeted legal and policy responses. Survey data on racism and hate crime could provide evidence as to the need to implement EU law and develop effective measures to combat these phenomena. It can also support civil society organisations in their advocacy work. The data gathered with regards to Roma will support the European Commission in its annual reporting, as well as national and local authorities, in designing effective and inclusive Roma strategies.
Based on stakeholder and expert consultations carried out in 2014, FRA developed the overall design of the survey to carry out data collection in 2015. In 2014, FRA also conducted a cognitive pre-test study to inform and develop the design of the survey questionnaire. The survey pre-test was carried out in the following eight EU Member States: Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Romania, and the United Kingdom.
In 2015, the full-scale survey will be carried out in all 28 EU Member States (after a pilot test phase). It aims to collect data from around 25,000 people. In this regard, the population being surveyed are broadly termed as ‘immigrants’, ‘descendants of immigrants’, ‘ethnic minorities’ or ‘national minorities’ and ‘Roma’. This is to reflect the particular situation in EU Member States with respect to histories of past, recent immigration and settlement, and the degree to which certain individuals/ groups are considered to be vulnerable to social exclusion, victimisation and discrimination.
