Czech cabinet members ignore the 15th EU Platform for Roma Inclusion organized by their own EU Presidency
As part of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the 15th meeting of the European Platform for Roma Inclusion started today in Prague. Martina Štěpánková, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic, opened the meeting shortly after nine o'clock.
Czech Education Minister Vladimír Balaš sent a video greeting, as did the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality, gave her remarks in person.
No Czech Government ministers attended the first day of the meeting in person, which some of those present described as a shame for the Czech Republic. According to Peter Pollák, a Romani MEP from Slovakia, the situation of the Roma has not improved at all in the last 10 years.
“There are little islands of positive examples, but it is not possible to get the funds from the European Union to the local level. There are still a large number of Roma who get their drinking water from streams,” Peter Pollák said, criticizing national governments, cities and municipalities in his speech.
According to Pollák, Roma are supported at EU level, but the mayors of cities and municipalities are not interested in investing EU money into improving the Roma situation. “It isn’t enough to have political ambition at the European level, it is also necessary to have it at the local level,” said Pollák, according to whom cities and municipalities which refuse to invest EU money into improving Romani communities’ situations should be prohibited from using EU funds.
“We need to improve the communication with the cities and regions. However, if the municipalities still do not want to use the funds to support the Roma, they should not have access to EU funds generally,” he added.
The director of the European Roma Grassroots Organizations’ Network, Gabriela Hrabaňová, responded in a similar vein. She criticized the fact that no cabinet members were attending the meeting in person.
“It is a disgrace that no ministers from the Czech Government have come,” Hrabaňová said, confirming Pollák’s assertions that Romani people’s situations are not improving. During the discussion, the question of how the EU will ensure the implementation of the national Roma strategies written on paper was raised several times, given that their measures are very difficult to put into practice.
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“You are suffering from professional blindness. We have been discussing these problems for 30 years now, but the implementation of these strategies has never reached the local level. Concrete deeds to improve the Roma situation are minimal,” said Ivan Veselý, a Romani activist from the Czech Republic.
Before the meeting, the RomanoNet umbrella organization called on the Czech Government to appoint a Government Commissioner for Roma Affairs as it pledged to do in its Strategy for Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation 2021-2030. The EU Roma Platform is meeting in Prague from 25-26 October 2022; on Thursday, 27 October, the National Coordinators for Roma Inclusion meeting will take place.
The Platform brings together the Governments of the Member States, the EU, international organizations and Romani civil society. Its aim is to galvanize collaboration and exchange of experiences in the field of including Romani people into society successfully.
