Flamenco dancer is appointed Roma's ambassador to the EU

By Graham Keeley in Barcelona
Published: 09 February 2007

In the stuffy confines of the European Parliament, he cut an unlikely figure. A strutting peacock of a man, Joaquin Cortes is normally to be found stripped to the waist, dancing Flamenco in front of thousands of mostly female devotees.

This is the dancer who almost single-handedly used his talent - not to mention his looks - to make Spain's most famous art form a must-see among the fashionable classes. But, though more used to hearing excited female fans shouting guapo (handsome), the one-time model for Giorgio Armani now wants to use his fame for a very different end.

Roma by birth, Cortes has become the new European Union ambassador for his people, in an effort to end decades of discrimination and xenophobia.

Dressed in more sober attire than normal, the dancer recently addressed MEPs in Brussels. "The main reason for my presence here is that I am of Roma origin and I understand that this institution is known as the champion of human rights in the EU," he said.

"I am one of the rare European Roma to whom fortune has been kind, as I am able to proudly assert my identity without fear of being persecuted, humiliated or being made a scapegoat." He added: "We all have to fight for the integration of the Roma nation, and hope that in the near future a new generation will live a better life."

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