Today is a holiday for the Roma community all over the world. April 8 was declared International Roma Day in 1992. The idea, which the UN and the European Union supported, was that of the International Organization "Romano Union".
The choice of the date is not at all accidental. This date commemorates the liberation of the Roma from the Auschwitz concentration camp at the end of World War II. On April 8, 1971, the First Roma Congress was held in London. Its goal was to unite and systematize the efforts of the international Roma movement, as well as to draw the attention of the world community to the problems of this minority group: education, poverty, segregation. A common Roma anthem and flag were adopted at the meeting. The anthem is the song “Dželem, dželem” by Zharko Jovanović from 1969. The flag depicts the blue sky, the green earth and the red wheel of perpetual motion.
On March 27, 2012, at the invitation of the Bulgarian MEPs from GERB, in the European Parliament in Brussels, the Bulgarian singer Sofi Marinova, who was chosen to represent Bulgaria at the "Eurovision" contest, took part in the celebration of the International Roma Day. During the presentation, the head of the Bulgarian delegation of GERB to the EPP, Dr. Andrey Kovachev, welcomed the celebration of the Roma holiday with the words:
April 8 is a day when we remember the largest ethnic minority in Europe and celebrate Roma culture. Roma have contributed to the culture, music and art of the communities of our continent. This shows how important the motto "United in diversity" is. Because Europe can only be strong when the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity of our citizens is guaranteed.