'Gypsy King' praises Madonna

Published on Wednesday 2 September 2009 22:02

ROMANIA'S self-styled King of all Gypsies praised singer Madonna yesterday for using her "Sticky & Sweet" world tour to speak out on behalf of Gypsies.

Last week, Madonna drew international attention by saying during a concert in Bucharest that widespread discrimination against eastern Europe's Gypsies, also known as Roma, should end. Thousands of fans responded by booing her.

"Madonna is the only international personality to have raised the problem of discrimination against the Roma in Europe," Florin Cioaba told Agerpres, Romania's national news agency. Mr Cioaba inherited the unofficial title King of all Gypsies from his father in 1997.

Yesterday, he said from Sibiu, Transylvania, that he would send the singer an award made of gold. "I have never given one of these before," he said.

"It's because Madonna is a fighter for Roma rights in Europe. What Madonna did means a lot to us.".

Mr Cioaba gained international attention in 2003 when he served as a minister during a ceremony that joined his 12-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old Gypsy boy in an arranged marriage.

The EU envoy to Romania at the time, Baroness Nicholson, demanded that the couple be separated and said that if that was not done Romania could jeopardise its efforts to join the European Union.

Mr Cioaba initially protested, but the couple were separated.