For centuries many Roma communities have lived at the economic and social margins. Nowadays, at the European periphery, their position becomes even more precarious due to the consequences of the economic crisis. European Union is intensifying the restrictions against precarious migrant workers and asylum seekers from the war-torn and post war regions and countries. The possibility to reintroduce the visa regime granted to the EU member states is a sanction directed at countries of the periphery, which is justified by a rising number of "illegal migrants" or "false asylum seekers" arriving in EU countries.

The increasing number of assaults on Roma is the consequence of a strengthening and consolidation of right-wing forces using the situation of economic crisis for populist promotion of their racist and anti-migrant agenda. Brutal demolition of Roma and migrant settlements and the following deportations from France in 2010 or the terror against local Roma communities in Hungary by ultra-nationalist formations, usually have support of the state institutions. In Serbia and Bulgaria, organised violent actions against Roma by the majority population are frequent. Extreme poverty, social exclusion and segregation present a situation a large number of Roma in Serbia is living in today.