Category Archives: Slovenia

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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The situation is not getting better in Slovenia, especially in the South East of the country. The article starts with “After the municipal councilors met in an extraordinary meeting last Wednesday due to the increasing insolence, violence and crime of individual Roma or groups of Roma in the municipality of Škocjan, another meeting was also organized last night by the village community of Grmovlje, which in addition to Grmovlje also includes Hudenje, Dobruško village and Doljno Staro village, and also invited villagers from the village communities of Dobrava pri Škocjan and Tomažja village.”

In brief, bridges are burnt. And this is bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Extorsion

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An article that highlights the issues in Slovenia: In Šentjernej – A group of underage Roma – two girls and a boy – are extorting drivers at parking lots, forcibly opening car doors and inspecting the interior and making it impossible to start the vehicle, demanding money from drivers violently and with threats. Many women no longer dare to go to the store, bank, or church alone without the accompaniment of men, nor do the elderly and children.

This is bad for all.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and the Roma “Problem”

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The government should immediately ensure the safety of the citizens of the municipality of Škocjan and inform them within one month of the already adopted or promised measures and systemic plans for solving the Roma problem. This is what the Škocjan municipal council decided at yesterday’s extraordinary meeting, which was called by mayor Jože Kapler due to the increase in violence and crime by individual Roma or groups of Roma in their municipality in recent weeks.

Not good.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Schools, and Roma

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An emergency meeting of the Slovenian Commission for Petitions, Human Rights and Equal Opportunities was held in the National Assembly yesterday on the role of the Parents’ Council of the Velika Dolina Elementary School in connection with the attack on a student at the Velika Dolina Primary School.

According to the mayor of the town where the attack occurred, the government does not want to talk about Roma issues. The session was also not attended by members of the commission from the left parties. They said they estimate that it is indecent and inappropriate for the Commission to serve as a platform for spreading intolerance and pointing fingers by convening the meeting.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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There was an altercation between Roma and non-Roma in an elementary school in the municipality of Brežice, Slovenia. This made the news in the country, and a controversy arose as the mayor of Brežice wrote in social media “a Roma student attacked an eighth-grader in class.” The question raised whether this is an incitation to racial hatred or not.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and the Roma “Problem”

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The Slovenian president met the mayors of the municipalities of the Novo Mesto region regarding the Roma “Problem”. These mayors have proposed drastic measures to limit social benefits for Roma. They were not approved in parliament as they were obviously targeted at a minority, but the issues persist, and the mayors are pushing the government for action.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Social Help, and Roma

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A vehement article in the Slovene press against the social help that Roma in that country are getting. According to the article, “Roma have the highest child benefits and social assistance in Slovenia, which prevents them from working, they live in non-profit apartments in settlements that have become ghettos, they do not pay rent, and they break in, threaten and attack everyone: the old, the young, women, the disabled. Among the Kočevci, because of the indifferent attitude of the government towards the increasingly serious Roma problem, it is boiling.”

Well, what about that fact that no-one in Slovenia would employ Roma?

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Wedding

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A critical article with undertones about a Roma wedding organised by a rich Rom who worked abroad.

The undertone is that this is all criminal money. The groom was Italian, the bride Bulgarian and all of this in Slovenia …

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Carrot and Stick

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The President of the Slovenian Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, visited the municipality of Ribnica on Tuesday and, together with the mayor, Sam Pogorel, saw the Roma settlement Lepovče, which the municipality wants to relocate because it is located in an industrial zone. At the same time, Pirc Musar supported the efforts of the mayors of 11 municipalities in south-eastern Slovenia and Posavija to tighten certain benefits for the Roma. “If it doesn’t work with a carrot, you also need a little stick,” she said. She also said that she supports most of the proposed laws that also solve the Roma issue. The latter was submitted to the National Assembly by 11 municipalities last year, but was flatly rejected by the government coalition for being racially biased.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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The President of the Slovenian Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, visited the Roma settlement Lepovče in Ribnica, where she discussed the common issues facing them with representatives of the Roma and the mayor Sam Pogorelce. She pointed out that Roma children attend schools as the key to solving Roma issues. “That’s why I call on all Roma parents to send their children to school,” she said.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

A Slovenian Settlement

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The formal inauguration to a small Roma settlement in Slovenia says a lot about the living conditions of Roma in the country.

At the opening, Nataša Horvat, who is the representative of the Roma community in the municipal council of the Municipality of Lendava, expressed her enthusiasm for the positive changes in the settlement and in the Roma community. She emphasized the development of the settlement from its beginnings in 1961 until today, with at last a modern and safe infrastructure.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma Media

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A round-table on the role of Roma media was held in the Research and Education Centre Dvorec Rakičan. there was a round table on the role of the Roma media and information on the current situation.

The main theme was the discussion about how important the Roma media are for the Roma community and how to deepen cooperation between them throughout Europe.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Two very different articles about Roma in Slovenia. One about a brawl between Roma in a town, the other, about children in a Roma (segregated?) kindergarten cleaning up the surroundings.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Roma “Problem”

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Over last weekend there was a shooting in the Roma settlement Kerinov Grm in the area of the Krško Municipality. While the police intervened and wanted to detain one of the suspects, residents of the local settlement threw stones at the police car.

The former Director General of the Police, Anton Olaj, believes that “the government’s lack of readiness to systematically regulate the Roma issue is reflected in the escalation of violence”. At the same time, he calls on the government to “present the promised softer and “better” solutions to the public after the rejection of the legal initiative of the eleven mayors of SE Slovenia”.

This is a recurring theme in Slovenia and of course populists are on the forefront.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and a Kindergarten

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Less than a month ago, the Roma settlement of Dobruška Vas in the municipality of Škocjan was left without a kindergarten. It was set on fire by a stranger, and the fire completely destroyed the structure. Fires are apparently common in the mentioned settlement, but the the municipality nevertheless decided to build a new kindergarten. According to the mayor Jože Kapler, they hope that it will be in ready in May.

Slovenia

Slovenia and the Roma “Problematic”

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The President of the State Council of the Republic of Slovenia, Marko Lotrič, together with the State Secretary dr. sent Monika Kirbiš Rojs and state councilor Bojan Kekce on their third regional visit, this time to Dolenjska. One of the topic of discussion with local mayors was the Roma “problem”.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Comedians

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The comedians Andrej Bakreni and Aljaž Poredoš filled the hall in Noršinci on Women’s. This stand-up performance by the two comedians breaks stereotypes about the cooperation and coexistence of Roma and non-Roma.

Andrej Bakreni is the first and at the same time the only Roma comedian in Slovenia. He jokes that he is a strange Roma because he attended kindergarten, then finished elementary school, then high school, got a job before the age of 20, had his first child when he was only 27.

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