The incoming government has decided without wider debate to allot policy on the nation’s Roma minority to the Culture Ministry, surprising nominated Culture Minister Rudolf Chmel as well as other state Roma experts.
While responsibility for designing policy to cure high unemployment, low education and massive discrimination against the Roma fell under the Deputy PM’s office of Pál Csáky from 1998-2002, Csáky has now said the Roma issue needs more attention than he can give it.
Roma experts have said the government’s apparent unwillingness to deal with the Roma’s problems seriously and systematically could draw harsh criticism from the European Union, which is preparing to release a report today urging Slovakia to improve its record on relations between the Roma and majority Slovaks.
Compiled by Tom Nicholson from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
