“We reiterate our commitment for a Europe in which Roma can live in safety, enjoy real opportunities, and be fully recognised as an integral part of our shared European future”: this is the end of the statement made by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the day before the International Roma Day. Such communities are still discriminated against, Berset decries, and they are not excluded “by chance”, but because of the persistence of barriers in schools, in housing, in work and in public life. And when one lets “such barriers persist, democracies get weaker, divide and become more vulnerable to hatred and manipulation”. While the Council of Europe set standards and principles to fight such injustice, now they need to be enforced for the situation to change, or there is the risk that democratic renewal is quite meaningless if those that have been socially left out for far too long are not included. Berset makes reference to the New Democratic Pact for Europe and to the Council of Europe Strategic Action Plan for Roma and Traveller Inclusion 2026-2030. The International Day is also an opportunity, though, to celebrate the wealth of such culture, as does “Opre Roma!”, a month-long programme of events promoted by the Council of Europe about Roma history, language and culture.