Good afternoon, dear participants of the Forum! Today I speak on behalf of the Eastern Partnership Minorities Network and the Ukrainian Charity Foundation “Gorenie”; in my speech I would like to touch upon the issue of the protection of rights of national minorities in Ukraine. I would like to mention positive and negative trends illustrated by the example of the Roma national minority. Ukraine has adopted the State Strategy for Integration of the Roma minority and the corresponding Action Plan; however, both instruments are rather declarative in nature and do not provide any financing or precise implementation structure. The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine is responsible for the implementation of the Action Plan, and for the issues concerning other nationalities and religions. In our view, the structure of the Ministry does not provide for diverse activities with regard to nationalities, such as tackling issues of integration, social protection, protection of the rights of the Roma, etc. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has established an institution of the Government Commissioner for ethnic policy in May this year. Public organisations welcome the establishment of such an institution. However, the scope of its powers should be further expanded for more effectiveness of its activities, thus reforming it into the post of a Minister without portfolio for interethnic relations and reconciliation. The Roma remain the most discriminated minority in Ukraine, despite the involvement of the government agencies in solving this issue. There is a lack of precise statistics and information on the needs of the Roma national minority. According to the study “The legal needs of the Roma population in the Trans Carpathian and Cherkasy regions”, the basic