The Slovak representative of the International Romany Congress' (RNC) Youth Section, Eddie Muller, said on September 10 that the RNC would like to see the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister for National Minorities Pál Csáky. Muller said that the post calls for a man who is more open, not someone who supports only those Romanies who do not criticise him.
Muller also was critical of the approach of the government-member Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK) on minority issues, calling it prejudiced and adding that the SMK does not want to admit that the Romanies comprise a great part of the 600,000-strong Hungarian minority registered in Slovakia's official statistics. He said that Csáky does not acknowledge that there are more than 500,000 Romanies actually living in Slovakia. The number of Roma who have officially declared themselves as part of the ethnic group is about 85,000.
The RNC is an international Romany organization presently encompassing 45 Romany NGOs from 25 states in Europe. Founded in Slovakia in 1998, its goal is to monitor Romany human rights and improve the social and economic status of Romanies.
