This paper aims to investigate the significance of the EU's policy regarding Roma, as it represents the first instance of a real European minority protection strategy, bridging the whole Union and including both "old" and "new" member states. In order to analyze how the Roma integration strategy was implemented and received across the Union, and how different socialization processes (presence vs. absence of accession conditionality regarding minorities during the enlargement process) may have resulted in different outcomes, three different countries will be compared: Two "old" (Italy & France) and one "new" (Poland) member states. The national Roma integration strategies and implementation reports as well as their evaluation by the Commission will be used to comparatively analyze how and to which extent the EU's first attempt at a minority protection strategy for the whole Union has been successful.
