The Bulgarian Development Minister said she will not resign following calls to do so on her handling of the crisis in Garmen where houses continue to be destroyed. She says she is following the law… This is not always a good argument.
France was put at the same level as Bulgaria by a UN report slamming those two countries for forced evictions of Rroma.
SHAME!!!
Bulgaria and Sweden are talking about migrants and poverty and Sweden is hoping to improve the living conditions of Rroma there.
Let’s see… Sweden’s agreement with Romania did not do much.
Residents of the Rroma Mahala (neighbourhood) of Garmen took to the street to protest the continuing destruction of so-called “illegal” houses there.
LET THESE DESTRUCTIONS STOPPED!
The Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister went overboard and demonstrated that he must have been “under the bridge” as on say in the Balkans. 15% of beggars in Sweden are of Bulgarian origins. This is real statistic. If there are 200 beggars there, this is probably a lot.
NO NEWS!!!!
The demolition of Rroma houses in Garmen is continuing.
SHAME!
Several newspapers reported that one of the suspects in the death of more than 70 migrants who died in a truck in Austria is a Rrom from Bulgaria.
We ask: Is it relevant? NO, ethnicity has nothing to do with this. This was started by the Swiss magazine le Temps and promptly re-taken by a few others.
Rroma whose houses were destroyed in Varna have been arrested by the police, and the mayor declared that people who had built houses illegally are not entitles to a social housing alternative. In brief, they have been driven to the street.
SHAME!
Bulgaria is continuing its policy of demolition of “illegal” Rroma houses. This time, it is in Varna. There has to be a better solution!
Based on a complaint of Rroma residents in Bulgaria against the placement of electricity meters (several metres above ground), the ruling on indirect discrimination from the European Court of Justice has a wide impact. An overview of the impact!
Around 40 Rroma from Romania and Bulgaria are currently camping the castle’s park. This is common in France, with the illegal camps, but is definitively new in Germany. To be watched.
The French newspaper Liberation followed a young Rroma Child from Bulgaria and his family over a period of 6 months, documenting the illegal camps, expulsions, the social housing, etc. A face to the current plight of ca. 20’000 Rroma in France.
Bulgarian protesters from the village of Garmen deposited a petition in Sofia with 720 signatures against the postponement of the demolition of illegal building in the village. These protesters want all Rroma houses destroyed immediately.
A shame, and a solution should be found to regularise these houses now.
Some news of the camps in France: In Bagnolet, near Paris, Bulgarian Rroma buried a man and his daughter who died during a fire; in Roubaix, in the North, activists take 60 Rroma to the sea; in Loos, also in the North, an article about the street with a prison, a Rroma camp and an unused land; while in Vaulx-en-Vélin, near Lyon, cohabitation seems to be difficult; and finally the MRAP (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peoples) denounces what they deem a “real harassment” of Rroma in Lyon.
A lengthy feature article of the BBC on the tensions and issues in the village of Garmen, in Bulgaria.
A new book about the Bulgarian Rroma migration to Italy called “the Silent Migration” was recently published in Italy. The article and book reviews the situation of these migrants in various parts of Italy.
A worthy read!
The European court of Justice has issued a warning against the Bulgarian electricity company which installed electric meters at a height that renders them inaccessible, this in a predominantly Rroma part of Dupnitsa. According to the court of justice, this constitutes “ethnic discrimination”.
In a further escalation of the conflict in Garmen, around 150 residents from Garmen staged a protest in Sofia to request the demolition of 120 “illegal” Rroma houses in their village.
This escalation of an already festering problem will not resolve anything, and is providing ammunition to populist politicians on the overall minority “issue” in Bulgaria.
This has to stop!
According to the Council of Europe, and this in spite of what populist politicians claim, there has been no “invasion” of Rroma from Bulgaria and Romania since citizen from these countries have been granted free circulation within the EU. The Council of Europe criticises the “unfounded” numbers cited by the press in the migration debate in several European countries, such as the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
We wholeheartedly agree!
The OSCE has been urging Bulgaria to halt the evictions of Rroma in the village of Garmen. Gerge Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) also added: “Politicians should lead by example and refrain from anti-Roma rhetoric to gain support from the electorate.”
We agree wholeheartedly!
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