Tag Archives: Politics

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Serbia: Politics and Roma

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Serbia: Politics and Roma

Deputy President of the Bujanovac Municipal Assembly Dr. Dejan Stojanović tells Bujanovačke that the start of the session has been postponed. As a reason for the postponement, he declared they had a problem with microphones. Effectively, two Roma councillors were absent, meaning there was no majority in the council.

Apparently, the council needs 21 votes for a majority, but without the Roma and another councillor who is in jail, they only have 20 votes.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Minorities

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Slovenia and Minorities

An editorial on Slovenian minorities policies. Slovenia is friendly to constitutionally recognized national communities and allocates a lot of money for them. But there are no big results anywhere. Hungarians in Prekmurje are at war with each other, Italians on the Coast as well, and the sense of belonging is crumbling everywhere. Roma are even worse off.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Roma Multipurpose Centre

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Roma Multipurpose Centre

Šentjernej councillors unanimously supported the establishment of a temporary Multipurpose Roma Centre on Trdinova cesta, only Roma councillor Brajdič abstained. He is against this.

These centres are anyhow mostly alibis.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Croatia and Roma

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Croatia and Roma

The Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia and Minister of the Interior, Dr. sc. Davor Božinović, paid an official visit to Međimurje County. The topic of the meeting was community security, strengthening interdepartmental cooperation and the continuation of projects that contribute to better integration of the population, especially in Roma settlements.

As part of the visit, Minister Božinović visited Kuršanec Elementary School, where he met with Roma helpers in class.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Romanes in North Macedonia

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Romanes in North Macedonia

On the occasion of World Romani Language Day, North Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova met with members of the Roma community: high school students from Skopje, media and education professionals, and poets.

Those who met reached a consensus on the need to codify the Romani language, establish a chair in Romani studies, and enable Romani students to study Romani not only in schools in Skopje but also throughout the Republic.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Repressive Measures

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Repressive Measures

In the wake of the killing of a man by Roma in Slovenia, the government is planning new repressive measures. The current proposal will allow cutting social benefits to perpetrators of crimes and their families.

The Faculty of Social Work of the University of Ljubljana and the Association of Social Workers of Slovenia have described several measures from the so-called Šutar Act as unconstitutional and a departure from the principles of the welfare state. They called on the government to avoid collective punishment, stigmatization and repression of the poorest and most socially excluded groups.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenian President

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Slovenian President

Following the killing of a man in Novo Mesto, news in Slovenia are full of discussion about the Roma “problem”.

President of the Slovenian Republic Nataša Pirc Musar warned in the show Odmevi on TV Slovenija that measures will have to be prepared according to the principle of ‘nothing about Roma without Roma’.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Novo Mesto

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Novo Mesto

The Slovene President Nataša Pirc Musar visited Novo mesto for the first time since the tragedy. She lit a candle in memory of Aleš Šutar who was killed recently and met with Mayor Macedoni. “If the state reacts only with repression, these are short-term solutions,” the president is convinced.

The president  “told the representatives of the Roma community that if they do not try to limit violence and criminal acts among themselves, it will not be good for them or for us. If the state only reacts with repression, these are short-term solutions. The Roma must help us with this.”

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Rifts in the Community

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Rifts in the Community

A talk with Haris Tahirović, journalist and president of the Roma association Anglunipe and president of the Roma Community Association, which is called Umbrella, about the situation of the Roma in Slovenia and we tried to answer the question of what was the cause of the tragic event in Novo mesto.

The 2007 Roma Community Act has caused considerable debate and opposition. One of the key complaints, explains Tahirović, is that it separates Roma into autochthonous and non-autochthonous, which many believe is discriminatory and causes additional divisions within an already marginalized community. Another problem is the uneven implementation of national strategies and measures. Some measures have been implemented only on paper, without any real impact on the lives of Roma.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Migration?

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Migration?

Recent social media reports stated that hundred if not thousands of Roma from the Lunik IX housing estate in Košice, a notorious Roma neighbourhood, were to relocate to Trebišov. Mayor Marek Čižmár rejected these reports as nonsense: “It’s just a godforsaken lie and deception, because no such relocation has taken place, is not taking place and will not take place.”

According to the mayor, this is a form of election campaign that has been used in the past.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Again

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Slovenia: Again

Bad news. According to the news, a gang of Roma in Novo Mesto., Slovenia, beat up a father who defended his son, he died in hospital.

All articles say there is a problem with Roma violence, criminality, and that the government doesn’t do anything. All Roma are being put in this category, regardless. This is bad.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Croatia: Living together

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Croatia: Living together

The deputy mayor of the Pribislavec Municipality, a Rom, Rajko Kovačić, spoke out, expressing great dissatisfaction at the stop of the work in the Roma settlement aimed at preventing the illegal dumping of garbage. Ther cause of the stop seems to be tensions within the municipal council.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Romani “Problematic”

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Romani “Problematic”

Another diatribe from a Slovenian MP regarding the security in Southeastern Slovenia. MP Anja Bah Žibert stated at a press conference: Due to the failure to resolve the Roma issue, the situation in the southeast of Slovenia is deteriorating. We are no longer talking about individual incidents, but about steadily increasing violence. Despite numerous warnings from residents, mayors and people’s initiatives, which have been warning about the increase in crime, violence and threats to security for a long time, the state remains passive. The government of Robert Golob has repeatedly promised measures, but these have not been implemented in practice, the SDS MP reminded.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Romni Council Woman

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Romni Council Woman

In Lendava, a dispute has been flaring up in recent weeks between the municipal administration and Roma councilwoman Nataša Horvat, the representative of the Roma community in the municipal council. According to some sources, the councilwoman is trying to influence municipal procedures in favour of her extended family, which the municipality understands as an overstepping of her powers.

She apparently advocated for the construction of a driveway to a house, which was allegedly built without proper permits, owned by her husband’s brother.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Memorandum on Integration

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Memorandum on Integration

Mutual cooperation in implementing public policies for Roma inclusion, mutual transfer of knowledge with an emphasis on good practices, positive responses and effective methods of their implementation are the subject of a memorandum concluded by the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic and the Interest Association of Municipalities Spolužitie and Jekhetane Roma and Slovakia. Its details were announced at a press conference in the municipality of Bystrany on Tuesday by the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities Alexander Daško and the Chairman of the Association Slavomír Badžo.

Let’s see what this brings.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, Migrants, and Work

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Slovakia, Roma, Migrants, and Work

The Slovak Rural Party is preparing a proposal that will support the employment of long-term unemployed Roma. The Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Slovak Republic Rudolf Huliak informed about this on social networks. “Let’s give jobs to our Roma rather than foreign migrants,” Huliak declared.

Let’s see the details …

Albania News Eastern Europe

Albania: Integration

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Albania: Integration

The 6th Ministerial meeting on Roma integration within the Berlin Process as a commitment to fight discrimination and improve access to basic services was held in Tirana Albania.

The meeting endorsed the Poznań Declaration, a historic agreement that commits governments to take concrete measures to include Roma in four key areas: employment opportunities, access to education, housing conditions and anti-discrimination measures.

The Albanian Minister of Health and Social Services, Prof. Evis Sala, welcomed the meeting as an important step towards Roma inclusion. “In the last five years, as Albania has progressed towards the European family, there have been visible improvements in the situation of the Roma and Egyptian minorities in areas such as education, employment, housing, healthcare, social protection, civil registration and access to justice, based on best international standards and practices,” said Sala.

The EU Ambassador to Albania, Silvio Gonzato, stressed the fundamental importance of Roma inclusion.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia People’s Initiative

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Slovenia People’s Initiative

This morning, representatives of newly established people’s initiatives to solve the Roma problem (Sic), which operate under the auspices of the regional one, gathered at the Jordan homestead in Mihovica.

According to them. The “Roma problem” is getting worse and worse and the security and social conditions have become unbearable. They added that if the sate doesn’t protect them they will have to do it themselves.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and the “Roma Problem”

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Slovenia and the “Roma Problem”

State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior Helga Dobrin met with representatives of the Regional Civil Initiative of Southeast Slovenia. The main topic of the discussions was the Roma issue and ensuring security in local communities in southeast Slovenia.

She said that the police will ensure an increased patrol presence as long as necessary but that it is only is only a short-term measure, the long-term goal being Roma integration.

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