Tag Archives: Politics

Europe News Eastern Europe Slovenia

International Roma Conference

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On Thursday, September 21, an international Roma conference was held in Radenci, Slovenia. Representatives of the Roma community from 15 countries discussed several topics important to Roma with representatives of national and European institutions. In the foreground were the implementation of the European Commission’s ten-year plan for supporting Roma in the EU and the presentation of good practices for solving the problems of the Roma community.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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The Parliamentary Committee for Internal Affairs, Public Administration and Local Self-Government discussed the situation of the Roma community for several hours today. In 30 years, the situation has not improved, but worsened, it was heard several times today. They allocate 15 mio euros per year to this problem.

But they also highlighted some examples of good practices, such as afternoon activities for children in Roma communities.

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News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovak Politics and the Holocaust

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The OĽaNO chairman  and former prime minister Igor Matovič and the president of the Republic Milan Uhrík discussed in the program O 5 minut 12 on RTVS. He admitted that he “doesn’t go much” to his job as an MEP, but despite this, he earned more than 400,000 euros in the European Parliament.

At the beginning of the show, the moderator confronted Milan Uhrík with his past statements about the Holocaust. Uhrík did not directly condemn the Holocaust of Jews, Roma, LGBTI+ people, etc. “Certainly none of us wishes, neither now, nor in the past, nor in the future, that anyone, be it Igor Matovič, Milan Uhrík, your children, our children, anyone, would be taken to some concentration camp because he is small, fat big, white, black or whatever, we don’t even have to debate it.’

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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After several months of campaigning, 11 mayors and mayors of the municipalities of Dolenje, Belokraj and Posavina have finally submitted proposals for changes to social legislation to the National Assembly.  Under the slogan “For children from difficult social backgrounds”, voters’ signatures were collected in municipalities for amendments to four laws, the content of which is particularly discriminatory against Roma, even though Roma are never mentioned in the proposed legislation.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Interview with Lucie Fuková

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An interview with the commissioner for Roma minority affairs of the Czech Republic. She is being asked what the state is doing to prevent the recurrence of conflicts between Roma and Ukrainians and wether the Commissioner of the Council of Europe right when she claims that the Roma in the Czech Republic face discrimination.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic: Extremism

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About seventy protesters, around fifty of them Roma, gathered in front of the Government Office for a demonstration called by David Mezei, a very controversial Romano leade. The participants expressed their disapproval of the current government and the presence of Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic. In addition to Mezei, the speakers also included Miroslav Tancoš, the chairman of the Roma Democratic Party, which has suspended its activities, and Denis Novák from the Round Table Alliance.

It is sad to see that some Roma are playing into the hands of extremists following the two attacks in the Czech Republic.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Condemnation

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The Commission for Protection against Discrimination (CPC) imposed a fine of BGN 1,000 and a mandatory order on the extreme-right Political Party “VMRO-Bulgarian National Movement” (VMRO-BND) not to allow publications that create prejudice against certain Romas. The complaint was submitted by the Romani activist Liliana Kovacheva through lawyer Diana Dragieva from the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC). As a Bulgarian Roma citizen, Kovacheva felt rightly discriminated against because of content on the official website of the VMRO-BND. In the section “The Gypsy Question there are hundreds of publications that suggest criminal tendencies and criminal behavior of all Roma. The articles abound with hate speech, impose the feeling of opposition between Bulgarians and Roma.

News Western Europe Portugal

Portugal and Chega

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In Portugal, the Chega! (That’s enough!), which currently has 12 seats in parliament, is now considered the third political force in the country, with 13.2% of the voting intentions in the latest polls. Although none of its members currently sit in the European Parliament, the party could gain three to four.

In a similar vein to neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, Chega’s ideology is described as anti-immigrant, anti-women, anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-Roma, anti-Muslim and conspiratorial, according to a report by the Global Project Against hate and extremism (Global Project against Hate and Extremism, GPAHE).

Latvia News Eastern Europe

Latvia: New President

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The Congress of Latvian Roma Associations on Saturday elected Osvalds Jezdovskis, chairman of the Latvian Roma Association and Higher Roma Council, as President of the Roma of Latvia.

Jezdovskis said that a meeting of the Latvian Roma Federation is scheduled for Thursday, June 1 to decide on a strategy for the next five years. However, it is already clear that the main goal of the Federation’s activities will be to improve the living conditions of the Roma in Latvia by addressing educational, cultural and social issues.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Urška Klakočar Zupančič, the speaker of the Slovene Parlaiment, received representatives of the Association of Roma Councillors of Slovenia. They pointed out that the situation of the Roma is still bad, and they are also concerned about the low reputation of the Roma in society.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Roma Luma – Another view

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A non-Roma view of the Roma Luma political congress. According to the article, efforts to unify the Roma minority have appeared frequently in the past, but according to the organizers of the convention, they have always come to naught, and the Roma now have no adequate representation. And that is precisely why the Roma Luma political party was created.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Roma Luma

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On Saturday afternoon, a Roma meeting was held in Prague, organized by the Roma Luma political party and the Buči association. The event was called the All-Republic Congress of Roma and non-profit organizations, and the participants debated about Roma leaders and the representation of Roma in the public sphere. Roma Luma has two presidents, Mark Cavali and Emil Zajac, who gave an interview to ROMEA TV.

Roma Luma is not necessarily a popular group. As they insulted several people and organisations in the past. “We have apologized to some people, including the ROMEA organization. And I think that now is the right step for us all to meet each other and work together for our community,” said Marco Cavali in the interview.

According to Emil Zajac, Roma Luma proposes that a Roma be elected in each district, who would then represent the Roma. “It would be nice if those people were elected by our people. We can then call them in quotation marks as vajdy,” explained Emil Zajac.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary, Jobbik, and Roma

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Parties opposed to Viktor Orban agreed prior to the last elections to allow Roma politicians to run on their joint list. This also applied to Jobbik, an extreme right party that usually is very much against Roma and other minorities. Ferenc Varga a Rom, entered parliament in the 2022 election from the joint opposition list in the Jobbik faction.

On January 6, 2023, Ferenc Varga announced that he would leave the Jobbik parliamentary faction and continue his work as an independent. When asked why he made this decision, he said:

“The main reason was that the party was concerned with its own affairs and not with the voters. Even if the number of votes for the change of government was small in the election, we cannot help but constantly deal with the party’s internal affairs and infighting. I didn’t see a way out of this. I did everything in my field, I visited the country, I built the Gypsy Association with Honour, but the politicians who have been sitting in the parliament for several years practically did nothing.”

The Jobbik fraction wants him to give up his seat for another Jobbik politician, but Ferenc Varga refuses, saying that he was elected as part of the overall opposition coalition.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma Representatives

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The Government Office for Nationalities has announced new elections to the Council of the Roma Community of the Republic of Slovenia. This council has already started work, but without seven members from the ranks of Roma municipal councillors, as no voters voted in the first elections. This year’s elections will be held on March 30 in Murska Sobota, and in Novi Mesto on March 31, the office announced.

Roma councillors send their possible candidacy for member of the Council of the Roma Community by mail or bring it in person. The deadline for submitting candidacy is March 17 until 2 p.m. The candidature, which will be submitted by registered mail on February 17, is also considered timely.

Germany News Western Europe

Hamburg and Racism

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Sinti and Roma organisations as well as other victims associations are asking the members of the Hamburg Parliament to include not only the fight against anti-Semitism but also anti-Gypsyism as a state goal in the state constitution. “With the change in the preamble to the Hamburg Constitution, you will soon have the rare opportunity to take responsibility for the memory of National Socialist terror,” says a letter published on Monday by the Auschwitz Committee, National Association of Sinti in Hamburg, Rome and Cinti Union and the Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime – Association of Anti-Fascists to the MPs.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany, Sinti and Roma

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While Sinti and Roma would like to conclude a state treaty with the German Federal Government, there is a disagreement within the minority as to which organisation should represent them in the negotiations. Why should there be only one?

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Roma Mayors

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A record number of Roma mayors won in the municipal elections. In the next election period, there will be 52 of them.

For comparison – in 2010, there were only 12 of them. Despite the growing number, Roma are only slowly getting involved in local government affairs.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro, Parliament, and Roma

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The debate in Montenegro about reserved seats for the Roma minority continues.

According to the debate held, it is necessary to ensure that the Roma community has a representative in the Parliament of Montenegro, because members of that people would explain in the best way what problems they are facing and what they see as a solution. This was assessed at the panel discussion “Reserved mandate for members of the RE population in the Parliament of Montenegro”, organized by the Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI) and the MINA agency.

The right question is to ask what a single (or even a few) reserved seats for minorities can do to change things. The anser is easy: NOTHING. This is an alibi exercise.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Roma Mayors

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Another mayor in Slovakia is a Rom. This is a trend, as more and more Roma get involved in politics. In this case, it is in Strány pod Tatra, where the Roma candidate won. The village of roughly 2’300 inhabitants has above 90% of Roma residents.

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