Romeo Franz

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Romeo Peter Schischo Franz (born October 28, 1966 in Kaiserslautern ) is a German politician ( Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen ), violinist and pianist as well as a representative of traditional Sinti jazz in the style of Schnuckenack Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli . In July 2018, he moved up as a member of the European Parliament , and in 2019 he returned to Parliament on the regular list.

From 2014 to 2019 Romeo Franz was the managing director of the Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation and has been involved in civil rights work on the subject of “people with a Romno background (Sinti and Roma)” for over 20 years.

Life and music

Romeo Franz is a master student of Schnuckenack Reinhardt, comes from a family of musicians and therefore came into contact with music very early on. At the age of nine he enjoyed a musical education. First public appearances took place at the age of eleven.

At the age of 23 he founded his first band, the Romeo Franz Ensemble . In the following time Romeo Franz was on stage with many musicians: Schnuckenack Reinhardt, Biréli Lagrène , Dorado Schmitt , Greetje Kauffeld , Martin Taylor , Joe Bawelino , Jermaine Landsberger, Max von Thun , to name a few. A special highlight for Romeo Franz was the invitation to play for Stevie Wonder in Munich in 2007 .

The Romeo Franz Ensemble was founded in 1991 with the founding members Romeo Franz, Thomas Stützel, Uli Bund and Lulo Reinhardt . Unge Schmidt, Joe Bawelino , Frédéric Schlick and Dunja Blum joined the team later, Reinhardt left.

Romeo Franz has been volunteering for the civil rights of the Sinti and Roma since 1998 . From 2003 to 2013 he was deputy chairman of the regional association of German Sinti and Roma in Rhineland-Palatinate and a member of the board of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma . In 2010 he founded the Sinti and Roma Education and Culture Initiative, of which he is chairman.

Romeo Franz is the composer of the violin piece Mare Manuschenge , which is integrated as an acoustic part in the memorial for the Sinti and Roma of Europe murdered under National Socialism in Berlin. He is an argumentation trainer against right-wing Stammtisch slogans, visits schools and other public institutions to give lectures on topics such as racism, discrimination and Sinti and Roma.

Romeo Franz lives in Ludwigshafen on the Rhine .

Political commitment

Commitment to Sinti and Roma

Romeo Franz is very committed to preserving the culture of the German Sinti in the areas of music, poetry and language. This resulted in projects such as B. "Rom som - I am a person" - lyrics and music of the Sinti and Roma , which he developed together with Anita Awosusi . On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Documentation and Cultural Center of the Sinti and Roma in Heidelberg, the project was praised by the federal government as a particularly valuable project. The project “Paramisi” - Stories and Songs of the Sinti and Roma is the latest project that Romeo Franz has worked out with Reinhold Lagrene .

From 2010 to 2018 Franz was chairman of the educational and cultural initiative of the Sinti and Roma, which he co-founded.

Romeo Franz is the managing director of the Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation , founded in 2012 , on whose board there are Elizabeta Jonuz , Jane Schuch and Daniel Strauss . Its primary purpose is to work against antigypsyism in the education sector. Children, young people and adult Sinti and Roma receive financial support in their educational careers. The foundation continues to develop and support related projects, but also supports other disadvantaged families on site. The foundation also works to improve the situation of the Roma living in Germany in their European countries of origin. An important principle is that the foundation's capital and its administration are provided exclusively by Sinti and Roma.

Romeo Franz has been an appointed member of the Council for the Affairs of the German Sinti and Roma in Baden-Württemberg since 2013 . In 2016, Romeo Franz was appointed Commissioner for Sinti and Roma in Germany by the federal executive committee of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen.

Entry into the European Parliament

Romeo Franz has been a member of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen since 2010 . For the 2013 Bundestag elections , he ran as a direct candidate in the Ludwigshafen / Frankenthal constituency and in sixth position on the state list, but did not make it into the Bundestag.

For the 2014 European elections , the party's federal delegates' conference nominated him to twelfth place on the list. However, the party won only eleven of the 96 German mandates with 10.7 percent, so that Franz missed the direct entry. It wasn't until almost four years later, after MP Jan Philipp Albrecht was appointed minister to the state government of Schleswig-Holstein under Daniel Günther and thus gave up his mandate in the European Parliament, that Franz was able to move up in July 2018. In the European Parliament, Franz joined the Greens / EFA group , for which he was a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Special Committee on Terrorism . He was also a member of the delegation for relations with Israel.

In November 2018, Franz ran again at the party's federal delegate conference for the European election list. The delegates nominated him for tenth place on the list. In the 2019 European elections, Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen won 21 of the 96 German mandates with 20.5 percent of the vote, so Franz moved in straight away. Again as a member of the Greens / EFA group, he is a member and deputy chairman of the Committee on Culture and Education and deputy member of the committees for employment and social affairs as well as for civil liberties, justice and home affairs for the ninth legislative period (2019-2024) . He is also chairman of the delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and deputy member of the delegation for the EU-Albania Parliamentary Committee on Stabilization and Association.

Television (selection)

Discography

Romeo Franz Ensemble

  • Fo (u) r Friends (CD, 1994)
  • Golden Earrings (CD, 1996)
  • Volume 2 (CD, 1996)
  • Jazzuny (CD)
  • Hot, Swing and More (CD, 2001)
  • CD single The World is Waiting for the Sunrise

Other

  • Lulu Weiss Quartet Gipsy Dreams (LP)
  • Manolito (MC)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alphabetical list of all elected - The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved May 27, 2019 .
  2. ^ Susanne Höll: Romeo Franz: The Green is the first Sinto to enter the European Parliament. He takes his violin with him. In: sueddeutsche.de . June 21, 2018, accessed April 27, 2019 .
  3. ^ Romeo Franz Ensemble. In: swing-rfe.de. Archived from the original on September 1, 2010 ; accessed on April 27, 2019 .
  4. ↑ The Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation for Education, Inclusion and Participation of Sinti and Roma in Germany, website of the Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016 ; accessed on April 27, 2019 . Petra Čagalj-Sejdi, Kathrin Bast, Romeo Franz: Just a show or new paths? Critical perspectives on previous anti-discrimination and empowerment policies. (mp3 audio, 37:53 minutes) In: Autumn School Antiromaism in Dresden. September 26, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2019 (played on soundcloud.com ).
  5. ^ Cooperation with the German Sinti and Roma in Baden-Württemberg. State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg , accessed on April 27, 2019 . Council for the Affairs of the German Sinti and Roma in Baden-Württemberg. (pdf, 101 kB) State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, September 6, 2017, accessed on April 27, 2019 .
  6. ^ Matthias Kamann: Romeo Franz wants to be the first Sinto in the Bundestag. In: The world . July 7, 2013, accessed January 30, 2014 .
  7. ^ German Sinto in Strasbourg? In: taz.de . February 10, 2014, p. 3 , accessed April 27, 2019 .
  8. ↑ 8th legislative term | Romeo FRANZ | MPs | European Parliament. Retrieved July 7, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Green European List. Retrieved July 7, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Home | Romeo FRANZ | MPs | European Parliament. Retrieved July 7, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Franz, Romeo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Franz, Romeo Peter Schischo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German musicians and politicians (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen)
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Kaiserslautern