According to information published on its website, the right-wing anti-Roma organisation Slovenská Pospolitosť (Slovak Togetherness), which is currently registered in Slovakia as a civic association, has started collecting signatures in order to establish itself as a political party under the name Naše Slovensko (Our Slovakia).
It explained its decision to enter politics by reference, among other things, to “the Slovak government’s inactivity when solving citizens’ problems”. Slovenská Pospolitosť made headlines recently by organising anti-Roma gatherings in eastern Slovakia.
Before departing on a visit to the eastern Slovak town of Svidník, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák said that problems with Roma in Slovakia have lasted for as long as 600 or 700 years. He added that the core of the problem lays in common human impertinence “in spitting, throwing stones, cursing, vulgarities, stealing unripe vegetables from gardens.” These are problems of civil co-existence rather than grave crimes, Kaliňák said, adding that police could not become teachers and educators; their task was to guard and protect law and order.
When asked for his opinion of Slovenská Pospolitosť, Kaliňák answered that there is democracy in Slovakia and everybody can express his or her approval or disapproval freely, as long as he or she does not break law. “But we will be vigilant that such people and such associations respect the laws, which they often fail to do. Their aim is not help people, as almost everybody knows. They want to get attention and to provoke, but never come up with a realistic solution,” Kaliňák told the TASR newswire. “Pospolitosť is only able to grumble about this issue - but anyone sitting in a pub and drinking beer can do that.”
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
