Tag Archives: Politics

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Integration

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Slovakia and Integration

A critical review of the efficiency of the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities who is managing very large sums of EU money aimed at integrating Roma. This office has grown from an original a few dozen employees to over 290, larger that the Culture Ministry. The author states that the Plenipotentiary is nowadays a political appointee and that for all the money spent, very little results have been achieved.

And money they have: Currently 400 Million Euros of EU money are earmarked for Roma integration.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Political Rant

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Slovenia: Political Rant

Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti, known for his controversial statements, harshly criticized the government and the European Union on social media for their approach to the Roma community. In his post, he used an offensive term for Roma and expressed dissatisfaction with current regulations, which he believes favor the Roma community at the expense of the safety and well-being of the majority population.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Challenges

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Slovenia: Challenges

The President of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia, Marko Lotrič, received in Ljubljana a representative of the Sprememba takoj association Murim Baftiaro, who heads the association established in December 2023 to help Roma youth.

The two spoke about the key challenges facing the Roma community, especially in the areas of education, employment and reducing peer violence.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Critique and Defence of the Plenipotentiary

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Critique and Defence of the Plenipotentiary

The Slovak opposition party SaS has been criticising the efficiency and use of the EU funds for Roma by Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities and its head, Alexander Daško. They said the funds are used inefficiently, criticised the creation of segregated schools, etc.

This article defends the record of the office, in spite of some of the real controversies that exist.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma

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Slovakia and Roma

The Slovak opposition SaS criticized the government for failures in the area of ​​marginalized Roma communities. According to the member of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic Vladimír Ledecký (SaS), the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities (ÚSVRK) has poor results and the action plans for the inclusion of Roma for the years 2025-2027 do not solve their real problems. The ÚSVRK rejects the criticism.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Serbia: Inclusion

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Serbia: Inclusion

The social inclusion of Roma is one of the key challenges and priorities in Belgrade, and institutional support plays a crucial role in achieving long-term changes. In an interview with our portal, the Deputy President of the Belgrade City Assembly Igor Jovanović emphasizes that the city authorities are facing an important period in which concrete measures will be adopted to improve the position of the Roma community.

Let’s see what comes out of it …

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Serbia and Minority Languages

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Serbia and Minority Languages

Živorad Ajdačić, a Serbian politician, said in a statement at the session of the Committee for Culture and Information of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia held on January 23, 2025 questionned whether it is possible for us to have a program in the Romani language and at 7 p.m.?

Opre Roma says that “this statement represents an unacceptable act of belittling the Romani language and culture, as well as open disrespect for the Romani community, which has been an integral part of Serbian society for centuries.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Support for Roma Communities

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Slovakia: Support for Roma Communities

The current system of support for marginalized Roma communities has serious shortcomings, auditors propose fundamental measures. According to the auditors, unclear competencies, excessive bureaucracy in approving subsidies, lack of transparency in the area of ​​human resources and a lack of internal control mean that the funds spent do not bring the expected results.

Germany News Western Europe

Alice Weidel

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Alice Weidel

At first glance, there is nothing to suggest that Alice Weidel, the official AfD candidate once wrote an email in which she said, among other things: “These pigs [the German government under Angela Merkel] are nothing more than puppets of the victorious powers of World War II and their job is to keep the German people down (…).” Or that she described Sinti, Roma and Arabs as “culturally alien peoples” who “are inundating us”.

Well, we knew where we stand.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Minorities

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Slovakia and Minorities

A blog entry saying that politicians who would like to unseat the current prime minister Fico should reach out to the Hungarian and Roma minorities of the country, as they make up to one million people. And reach out to them not just two weeks prior to the elections…

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria, Bango Vasil, and Politics

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Bulgaria, Bango Vasil, and Politics

The leader of the MRF and the PG of “DPS – New Beginning” Delyan Peevski congratulated Roma for the Bango Vasil (or Vasilica), the old New Year according to the orthodox calendar, which is celebrated by all Roma in Bulgaria. He said: “I congratulate all Roma on the biggest Roma holiday Bango Vasil or also called Vasilitsa”. And he added: “Be healthy, be worthy Bulgarian citizens and know that you are not second-class people and I will continue to fight for a decent life for all people in Bulgaria. Believe in the new beginning and be confident that the best is yet to come! Happy Bango Vasil!”

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Klenovec, Slovakia

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Klenovec, Slovakia

A small town in the centre of Slovakia has a few prominent Roma. Ian Cibula, a doctor, was born there and then moved to Switzerland, where he was instrumental in the creation of the International Romani Union.

Ján Déme is a successful eye surgeon today, but the path to his dream as a Roma boy was not always easy. Some people still don’t want to believe that their top surgeon is a Roma man.

Other famous native from this town are for example the “Klenovský Oskar Schindler” Karol Paje who joined the French resistance during World War Two. He built a centre for the rescue of women and children from several countries with Czech professor Josef Fischer in the town of Vence. Helping rescue over five hundred children, and finally tragically died at the age of 25 in the fight against the fascists.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Racism in Czechia

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Racism in Czechia

Roma, Ukrainians, Jews, Muslims. Racism is not just the domain of one party, but is widespread in Czech politics. And this is not new. In the 1990s, the politician Miroslav Sládek already made an outrageous racist statement saying that “Roma should be criminally responsible from birth, because that is their greatest crime”. And with social media, this is not getting better.

Scary.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Racism

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Czechia and Racism

Alena Pataky, the deputy mayor of Přívoz, Czechia, and member of the Moravian-Silesian Region council for the ANO movement (extreme right), made the following statement:

“The mentality of the Roma has not changed since the 13th century, because they are genetically equipped in a completely different way. They do not have an education as their life-goal. They have completely different goals. The nomadism that was planted in them somewhere in India persists in a certain way.”

Well, if that isn’t racist, what is…

She resigned from her job following the hefty criticism.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Racism

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Czechia and Racism

Alena Pataky, deputy mayor of the Ostrava-Přívoz municipal district and member of the Moravian-Silesian Regional Council for the ANO movement, found herself criticised for her openly racist statements about Roma in an interview with the Okraj.cz server. In the interview, Pataky suggested that the problems with the low success rate of Roma students in primary schools are due to the different genetic makeup and mentality of Roma, which she believes hinders their interest in education.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro and Roma

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Montenegro and Roma

The representative of the Roma Council, Šejla Pepić, spoke at the session of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms about the current position of the Roma community in Montenegro. According to the Roma Council, there has been “no talk about Roma and their recognition as a national minority and later changes to the law concerning political participation.”

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland, Roma Music, and PiS

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Poland, Roma Music, and PiS

A video emerged of two politicians of the ultra-conservative PiS party dancing on Roma music. Nota bene, the party is not particularly well inclined towards Roma…

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Roma and the Velvet Revolution

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Roma and the Velvet Revolution

On November 25, 1989, Emil Ščuka and Jan Rusenko spoke to a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Letná in Prague. They also reached most households through television cameras. At the same time, a Roma group unfurled the Roma flag on the Letne plain, and a huge crowd chanted “Long live the Roma”.

Prior to that, Czech Roma dissidents were practically inexistant. The only notable exception was Karel Holomek, a signatory of the Movement for Civil Liberties (HOS), established in 1988. Holomek, expelled from the military college after 1968 and expelled from the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, was detained and interrogated as early as 1981 for “subversion of the republic.”

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Not Good

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Slovenia: Not Good

The now 40-year-old Bogdan Miklič, a Rom from the village of Stranska vas pri Novem mesto in Slovenia, had a promising career as a journalist at RTV Slovenia, and he is also active in his Roma Civil society. Among others, he was the president of the association Gypsies once – Roma today,  and still is the legal representative or president of the Roma Association for Dolenjska.

According to the article, he is nowadays most often seen in court for fraud and theft, and in this particular case, for threatening his farmer neighbour.

Whatever he did, this kind of articles does not further the Romani cause.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Interview

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Slovakia: Interview

An interviw with MP Viliam Tankó, who also represents Slovakia in boxing and, who in is own words says that had to live with my mother near a garbage dump. He also explains why he recently left the movement of Matovič who scored high within the Roma population in Slovakia. Since then, he worked as a non-affiliated member of parliament until, together with Michal Šimeček, he announced two weeks ago that he was joining the club of the strongest opposition party, Progresívne Slovensko.

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