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There are between 10 and 12 million Roma living in the European Union today.

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That's roughly equal to the population of a medium-sized EU member state like Belgium or Greece.

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Yet most of us still know very little about a people who've lived on the European continent for more than seven centuries.

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And what we think we do know is more often than not based on ignorance, prejudice and stereotypes.

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The research shows that something around 70-80% of the average European population is completely anti-Roma.

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So this gap that you are talking about is huge.

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I mean, the policy talk and the reality of how much Europe cannot accept Roma is so big.

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It's such a drastic situation not only mentally and human rights-wise and economically, as I mentioned,

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but also culturally it's a huge loss for Europe.

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Roma in the EU today face extreme levels of social deprivation.

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Unemployment is rife, basic education is often lacking and life expectancy is well below the EU average.

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But despite the difficulties, some progress is being made.

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Here in the southern Spanish city of Seville, Johnny Borja Silva, a young Spanish Roma,

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found a full-time job in this local butcher's shop thanks to help from an EU-funded project called Acceder.

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Acceder also helps people to find decent homes.

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Like tens of thousands of migrant Roma, these Romanian Roma in southern Spain

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are currently forced to live in an illegal makeshift camp.

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But for Roma labourer Vasili Tanase and his young family, things are looking more hopeful.

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Thanks to help from Acceder, he was recently able to move into this apartment.

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And efforts are being made elsewhere too.

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Here in the Hungarian village of Pomaz, these women are taking part in an adult literacy class

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organised by the local Roma self-government.

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One of the biggest problems many Roma face is a lack of visible role models.

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Efforts are being made to tackle this issue.

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At this radio station in Budapest, for example, nearly all of the journalists and technicians are Roma.

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And successful Roma are also becoming more visible elsewhere.

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I'm a Roma, mother and father,

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and I work as a journalist and lawyer in the whole region of Andalusia.

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There are many Roma who have professions like everyone else,

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lawyers, journalists, traders, etc, etc.

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If life is to improve for the next generation of Europe's Roma, things must change.

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The situation is not hopeless.

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At this Hungarian primary school, non-Roma and Roma children learn and play together happily.

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But such success stories are still the exception, not the rule.

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When it comes to improving the lot of Europe's Roma,

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all of us, Roma and non-Roma alike, still have a long road ahead.