Author Archives: Roma Foundation

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Radio Belgrade

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Radio Belgrade

Radio Belgrade, one of the oldest and most important media institutions in Serbia, celebrated its 100th birthday on October 1, 2024.

The contribution of Roma artists has greatly influenced the development and prosperity of the national media outlet and they deserve a special place in any retrospective. Ante Grujić, Aleksandar Šišić, Ljiljana Petrović Butler, Žarko Jovanović Jagdino, are just some of the names of Roma artists whose songs, interpretations and musical performances have been regularly heard on the airwaves of Radio Belgrade.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Gypsy Fest

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Gypsy Fest

The festival that breaks down prejudices and unites cultures will celebrate its big anniversary in 2025. After ten years, Gipsy Fest returns to Žarnovica with the strongest program in history. You can look forward to Cigánski diabli, Kandračovci, P.A.T., Jasmina Alagič and many others.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Jarovnice: Remember

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Jarovnice: Remember

The residents of Jarovnice, Slovakia, will never forget July 20, 1998, when six storm clouds combined and brought the most devastating flood in the last millennium. To this day, when it starts to rain, Roma from their houses by the stream run to the hill for safety.

Jaroslav Červeňák was 14 years old when the largest Roma settlement in Slovakia was flooded.

“It was hot and muggy, and then around 2 p.m. it started to rain. At first it looked like a summer shower. Then a big storm hit. Today there would be a warning, but there were no mobile phones back then. People were cooking and washing, no one was prepared for it,” recalls Mr. Červeňák, who lost his aunt and cousin that day.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Illegal Houses

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Slovenia: Illegal Houses

The Novo Mesto Municipality recently wanted to implement the decision of the building inspection and demolish illegal construction in the Roma settlement of Žabjak, but the police and the social work centre prevented it from doing so, Novo Mesto Mayor Gregor Macedoni revealed on TV Odmevi on Wednesday.

He also said that the state will have to decide whether we will have one legislation for everyone or not.

The police did not want to provide security during the demolition because not all legal conditions were met, and the Social Welfare Department opposed the demolition of one of the houses because a Roma family with several children lived in it and assessed that the demolition would cause additional social hardship that it would have to deal with.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia and Integration

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North Macedonia and Integration

Shaban Saliu, Minister without Portfolio for Integration and Implementation of the Roma Inclusion Strategy 2022-2030, presented the work carried out last year and considered that avenues had been opened for the direct, systemic integration of Roma in all areas of life. According to him, the greatest progress has been made in integration into education, while efforts have also been made in access to health services and concrete projects aimed at ensuring decent housing.

Well, reality may be somewhat different …

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Not much this week in France about Roma. Roma squatting on private land in Angers, and in Nantes, the anger of residents faced with several Roma families who settled in this neighbourhood. The latter thing to be taken with a grain of salt as the paper is notoriously extreme right.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Slovenia and Roma

In a statement to the media today, Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar condemned the violence committed by members of the Roma community against individuals. He stressed that every act of violence is unacceptable, unnecessary and condemnable.

“All criminal acts of violent attacks on individuals, both the mayor of the municipality of Ribnica and the two attacks in Šentjernej and near Ljubljana, have been investigated. The Slovenian police have arrested the perpetrators. Some are in custody. The police here have successfully investigated these criminal acts. I condemn this kind of violence committed by representatives of the Roma community against individuals. This is unacceptable. I believe that the justice system will do what is necessary,” he said.

Even he is slowly but surely ethicizing crime. This is bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Roma in Slovenia

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Roma in Slovenia

The Slovenian Roma Community Association Umbrella-Dežnik and the European Roma Organization ERO have called for an end to the political incitement of intolerance towards the Roma community in an open letter. Criminal acts are not caused by the Roma community, but by individuals, warns the president of the Slovenian Roma Association Jožek Horvat Muc.

As members of the Roma community, we are deeply saddened and concerned that the entire Roma community has to suffer due to the recent actions of individual Roma, which we strongly, strongly condemn and distance ourselves from. It is unacceptable that incidents of individuals are used as an excuse to spread collective guilt and stigmatization. Crime has no nationality, and it must not have an excuse,” the Association of the Roma Community of Slovenia Umbrella-Dežnik and the European Roma Organization ERO wrote in an open letter.

They are right!

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Another Mayor on Roma

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Another Mayor on Roma

Novo Mesto (Slovenia) Mayor Gregor Macedoni spoke about the Roma “issue”, calling for systemic solutions. According to him, security has been steadily deteriorating in recent years, especially in southeastern Slovenia. We are really seeing this on the ground. Above all, it is worrying and real, and should also concern everyone in Ljubljana, that these crimes are increasingly bold and violent, that they are directed at officials… Police officers are being beaten, teachers are being slapped, doctors in the emergency room are being threatened. So, in this country we do not know how to respond systematically. The police are on the ground, but the system will also have to adapt to these new forms of crimes.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

A Mayor on Roma

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A Mayor on Roma

Jože Simončič, Mayor of the Municipality of Šentjernej in Slovenia:  “Some Roma are very rich, others are poor, even very poor. The rich drive good cars, they afford to travel and luxurious parties, prestigious clothes and jewelry. All this is noticeable. But the poor among them are taken away from everything, they are charged huge interest for lending money, there is a lot of extortion.”

All innuendos, all without proof, all to complain about the laxity of the legislation.

Bad.

Europe News Eastern Europe Romania

Roma in Europe

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Roma in Europe

The dialogue between the Roma Foundation for Europe network and the newly elected President of Romania, Mr. Nicușor Dan, marked a historic moment, one in which the Roma community is not seen as an object of aid, but as an equal partner in building a European future. The delegation of Roma representatives was led by Željko Jovanović, Director of the Roma Foundation for Europe, a leader whose work has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible for decades when it comes to rights, security and dignity.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Asković Commemoration

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Asković Commemoration

In the European Roma Institute for Art and Culture Serbia – ERIAC Serbia in Belgrade, on July 16, 2025, a commemoration was for Dr. Dragoljub Acković, who recently died.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria and Roma

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Bulgaria and Roma

Representatives of the Roma community accused some of the Bulgarian political elite of reacting unreasonably harshly to situations in which Roma were involved. They cited as an example, statements after the incident in Vidin, in which a 13-year-old boy inflicted moderate bodily harm on another child. According to the Chairman of the National Council of Roma in Bulgaria, Petko Asenov, the reactions of Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov and MEP Angel Dzambazki were deliberately exaggerated and aimed at ethnic hatred. Asenov pointed out that in the case in Vidin “it is a scandal on a domestic basis and all boys of Roma origin cannot be put under a common denominator.”

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Roma Community Centre

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Roma Community Centre

The Roma Community Center “5. studeni” was officially opened in the Slavonski Brod settlement “Josip Rimac”, a space that will play an important role in the life of the Roma community and the wider local community in the future. The opening was attended by numerous guests and locals, including MP Veljko Kajtazi, President of the Roma Alliance in the Republic of Croatia Suzana Krčmar, and Director of the Office for Human Rights and National Minorities Alen Tahiri.

Whether this is a helpful project will be seen in the coming years.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Project

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Roma Project

A warranted critique of a planned project in Slovakia which plans to invest 20 million euros in the Roma Media House in Banská Bystrica.

However, it is a project that has more of a marketing character than a real impact. It lacks professional anchoring, transparency, and connection to the needs of the community itself. The chosen location – Banská Bystrica – is not the natural centre of the Roma population. This choice raises legitimate doubts about whether the project serves the community or the interests of the Slovak government’s representative for Roma communities, Alexander Dašek, whose office is based in this city.

However, the fundamental problem is not only geography, but also the lack of expertise. How many Roma journalists with experience in professional editorial offices do we have in Slovakia? Who will provide direction, camera, dramaturgy, sound, editing? Who will write in such a way as to create content that has the ambition to compete with non-Roma media – strong content, factually accurate, editorially polished? Without experts, this project will be just a laugh!

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Ljubljana Attack

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Ljubljana Attack

Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković condemned the attack on a 70-year-old man that occurred last week in the Kleče area of Ljubljana. Janković praised the work of the police, who have already taken the four alleged perpetrators into custody, and they were also arrested in cooperation with the Roma community. He stressed that the perpetrators must be punished appropriately. He announced that he would visit the Roma settlement at the end of August, where he would meet and talk to the locals. When asked about the announced village guards, Janković replied that the court is the only place to achieve justice. He called on the residents to be tolerant, because, according to him, the police have done their job, and now the prosecutor’s office and the court have to do their job.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Manifestation

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Slovenia: Manifestation

In Šentjernej, Slovenia, roughly a thousand people manifested and protested against what they see as the state inaction on Roma violence. They made several demands on the government, including ensuring security and adopting appropriate legislation. They set a deadline of mid-September, otherwise the demands will be escalated. It is time for us to be heard and taken into account, they announced.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and EU Funds

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Slovakia and EU Funds

Czech MEP Tomáš Zdechovský presented a critical report on the rule of law and the use of EU funds in Slovakia. Improved controls and protection of civil society are required. The report considers the weakening of the rule of law as a key finding, as the abolition of the Special Prosecutor’s Office and the National Criminal Agency led to a dramatic drop in the number of indictments for serious economic crimes (in 2025, only two were filed, compared to the previous 120-150 per year).

The report also criticizes the hostile environment towards civil society and the media, as non-governmental organizations face administrative harassment, discredit campaigns, blocking of access to information, and investigative journalists report intimidation when verifying facts about the misuse of EU funds, for example for the construction of EU-funded pensions.

The MP also mentioned the inefficient financing of Roma projects, when there were cases where community representatives were excluded from planning, and projects such as the “Roma Media House” did not meet the needs in the areas of housing, work or education.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Zaharna Fabrika

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Zaharna Fabrika

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) annulled the interim measures on the complaint lodged for the removal and destruction of illegal houses on the Zaharna Fabrika district in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Deputy Mayor of Sofia Municipality, Department of Social Activities and Integration of People with Disabilities, Nadezhda Bacheva stated that this ECHR decision is a direct recognition that it is possible to uphold the rule of law and at the same time act with care and humanity.

Well …

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