(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DECEMBER 18 - The situation of Roma in Serbia remains "alarming" despite the efforts of the local authorities to improve it, the Council of Europe (CoE) said in a new report released today.

"There is still a wide gap between the Roma and the non-Roma population in terms to access to housing, education, healthcare services, social protection and employment," CoE said in statement accompanying the publication of a new report on the implementation of the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) in Serbia.

Serbia "still suffers from disparities in the implementation of minority rights," the report noted. "There is notably a need to significantly improve the level of national minorities rights protection outside Vojvodina," the norther autonomous province," CoE said. In particular, the local authorities should "prioritise the economic revitalization" outside Vojvodina "through improving infrastructure and creating more employment opportunities" and focus in general on improving "the participation of minorities in state administration." The Council of Europe however recognized the "commendable efforts to improve the situation of Roma-communities and to regulate the status of stateless persons, to develop cultural initiatives and minority media" made by the authorities in the past years. (ANSA).