The cabinet of Prime Minister Robert Fico is considering creating a government post responsible for minorities and their culture, the SITA newswire reported.
The cabinet eliminated the post of a deputy prime minister for minorities and human rights and after amending the current law on competencies, Deputy Prime Minister Ľubomír Vážny should be tasked with dealing with large infrastructure projects and investments.
"We want a person at the government level who will safeguard issues around national minorities so I can say that we will embark on this path," Fico stated on April 18, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
The establishment of a new office, plenipotentiary for minorities, should not automatically mean eliminating the current cabinet post of Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities headed by Miroslav Pollák, Fico commented, adding that this office should be moved from Bratislava to eastern Slovakia.
"We want to relocate the whole office from Bratislava to a locality that is most sensitive in relation to Roma issues," Fico stated, as quoted by SITA. He added that he has already discussed the matter with town representatives in Spišská Nová Ves and said the office could have more effective communication with mayors by being located there rather than in the capital.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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