A LEADING representative of Slovakia's Roma community said on August 16 that the European Union PHARE funds assigned for supporting the Slovak Roma are being ineffectively spent.
Alexander Patkoló, chairman of the Roma Initiative of Slovakia (RIS) party, supported his criticism with a report of the national audit office (NKÚ).
The NKÚ report says ,among other things, that projects to support Roma education are not being implemented to a sufficient extent.
Patkoló said that he had suspicions about the handling of PHARE funded infrastructure projects for Roma settlements.
Similar doubts have already been addressed by the Government Office audit committee and especially by Deputy PM Pál Csáky, according to Patkoló.
He confirmed that RIS and several NGOs were planning to initiate a new audit on the management of funds for Roma projects.
