Romanians In Italy Set Up Political Organization, Plan To Run In Local Elections

The first meeting of the Europeans for Italy movement will take place Saturday in Milan, the organization already has 600 members and has branches in Genoa, Turin and Rome.

„We wish to explain to our fellow countrymen that EU citizens have the right to vote in local elections. We’ll start with Romanians but we want to extend this initiative to other communities as well, for instance, Moldovans and Polish,” said Marian Mocanu, member of the new political movement.

„Few Europeans know they can vote in local elections in Italy. We want to encourage them to vote because this is the way to speed up integration,” he added.

Speaking about the situation of Roma ethnics in Italy Mocanu said: „Not all Romanians are Roma and not all Roma are Romanians. The issue needs to be approached at a European level. (…) Europe guarantees free movement of citizens so deporting European citizens because they are of Roma ethnicity is inconceivable.”