THE RESIDENTS of the Gemer region in Southeast Slovakia sounded sirens on April 15 in protest at the persistent poverty and unemployment in the region, the TASR news agency reported.
Jaroslav Gočaltovský, the chairman of the Central Gemer Association of Towns and Villages, said he expected the long-standing 30 percent unemployment rate to continue to grow.
Attempts to tackle the situation with EU-funded projects have failed to push down the number of unemployed in the region, a geographic rather than administrative area, which encompasses Rimavská Sobota and Revúca, both in the Banská Bystrica region, and Rožňava, in the Košice region.
