Daily Archives: March 5, 2024

Slovakia, the Elections, and Roma

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The dispute between the Union of Roma in Slovakia and the movement of Igor Matovič OĽaNO is escalating. First, on December 14, 2023, members of the union filed a criminal complaint in connection with a 500-euro promises made to Roma for participation in the elections. Matovič’s deputy Peter Pollák Jr. subsequently filed a criminal complaint for slander. On Monday, František Tanko, the chairman of the civic association Union of Roma in Slovakia, testified about this at the police in Galant. According to Tank, Matovič received 30 million euros for the last two election periods thanks to the votes of thousands of Roma, and therefore called on him to pay them the promised 500 euros.

This is not good, as it also plays in the hands of the current populist prime minister Fico.

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Sinti and Roma have had their home in Germany for centuries – and yet they are still subjected to severe discrimination today.

In addition to six million Jews, 500,000 Sinti and Roma were murdered in Nazi-occupied Europe during the Holocaust.

It took four decades until the then German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt recognized the genocide against Sinti and Roma under international law in 1982. In 2022, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described antigypsyism and the continued injustice against Sinti and Roma after 1945 as a “second persecution” and asked Sinti and Roma for forgiveness.

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