Slovak PM dismisses Plenipotentiaries for National Minorities and for Roma Communities, Hero calls on the Government to keep the post "apolitical"

In response, Hero has called on the Government to keep the post “apolitical”. His statement summarized the steps he has taken in the role.

“I call on the democratically-elected new Government to keep such an important issue and office apolitical. Only a person who speaks the language of intergenerational poverty and has a cohesive, determined team around him can achieve the progress that may be invisible after a day, and still incomprehensible after a week, but that, after months, will be apparent with regard to Romani community poverty, which has lasted for generations,” Hero said in his statement.

In a statement published to Facebook, Hero also thanked the members of his team. “My thanks go to my team and to each and every employee. Every single one of them at the Office for the Plenipotentiary for Romani Communities is there out of conviction, a conviction for all you Roma, for the communities living in intergenerational poverty and marginalization. I appreciate their work!” he said before summarizing the steps he has taken while in office.

“We prepared the new program period for the years to come in such a way that targeted, effective aid should reach municipalities where Romani communities are present. I also emphasized supporting and developing Romani families through a new, national project, Development Teams 1. I have advocated for desegregating education at all levels and eliminating the double shifts in the schools,” Hero said.

Another important aspect, according to Hero, has been preparations for how to address increasing Romani employment, which involved arranging for the establishment of training centers at secondary vocational schools, preparing calls for projects which will be socially innovative and target support to increasing the employment rate of disadvantaged job-seekers, creating opportunities for supported employment, and analyzing the application of the social dimension when public administration bodies issue public tenders. According to his statement, Hero also prepared the conditions for improving the civic and technological infrastructure in municipalities involved in the development teams project.

That project offers a comprehensive solution emphasizing the nature of the needs and specific problems of the localities where it runs. These include local residents building their own housing, access to drinking water, sewerage, electricity and the Internet.

One of the country’s recently elected MPs, Peter Pollák, Jr. (now with the Slovensko [Slovakia] party, previously called the “OĽANO and Friends” coalition) has called Hero’s dismissal a purge. “The purges continue. Fico has dismissed the Government Plenipotentiary for Romani Communities,” Pollák, Jr. said.

The MP is one of six Romani men and women to win office in the recent early elections. The other Romani lawmakers elected for Slovensko are Ladislav Bužo, Vilam Tanko and Anežka Škopová.

Irena Biháriová and Ingrid Kosová are the Romani candidates now in office for Progresivní Slovensko [Progressive Slovakia]. The new Government was appointed in Slovakia less than a month after the early elections ended.

Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová has named Robert Fico, chair of the Smer-sociální demokracie [Direction-Social Democracy] party, and the other members of his coalition cabinet. The appointment marks Fico’s fourth term as PM.

After winning the September vote, the governing coalition was created by Smer-SD together with the Hlas-sociální demokracie [Voice-Social Democracy] and the Slovenská národní strana [Slovak National Party]. The new cabinet has to appear before Parliament with a program statement and ask the MPs to express support for it within 30 days; the tripartite coalition represents 79 lawmakers in the 150-member unicameral legislature.