Hungary’s Roma are victim to a politically correct culture, a road which is paved with good intentions but leads nowhere; the Roma issue is something which must be spoken about openly and honestly, President Laszlo Solyom said in an interview to Saturday’s Nepszbadsag daily.
Solyom said that the road was littered with wasted opportunities to integrate the Roma into society, and much of the blame lay with political posturing and “political correctness” over the issue.
“An awful lot of well-intentioned efforts have gone to waste [...] but at least the fight over the political language has perhaps come to an end,” said Solyom.
After the recent killings of a Roma man and his child — the latest in a series of violent attacks against Roma — minority ombudsman Erno Kallai quoted a state audit office report indicating that successive governments had spent altogether 120 billion forints (EUR 400 m) over the past ten years on the Roma, yet only 10 percent of the sum had reached its target.
The minority Socialist government has promoted a multitude of plans to improve the education and employment situation of the Roma, often joining forces with NGOs and programmes operating within the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 initiative.
Main conservative opposition party Fidesz prefers the sort of schemes which draw young Roma men off the dole and require them to work for benefits provided by the local authorities.
Hungary’s Roma make up around 5-7 percent of the country’s population of 10 million. Many live in a state of dire poverty and lack access to basic services. Roma children are often still segregated at school in spite of government financed schemes to help the educational underclass.
Solyom said the current financial and economic crisis had exacerbated the situation of the Roma and posed a severe danger.
“The financial and economic crisis is the threshold. There is a social shock whose effects cannot be predicted,” he said.
Hungary’s jobless rate is rising fast, hitting 8.4 percent in the three months to January.
“Most of the Roma became the losers of the change in political system. It will become apparent whether they become the losers of the crisis,” he said, adding that this was a problem which other countries in the region besides Hungary also faced.
Voter support for Hungary’s radical nationalist party Jobbik, which is closely tied to a paramilitary movement called the Magyar Garda Movement, has sharply risen, according to the latest polls. The party has staged demonstrations protesting against “Gypsy crime”.
Fidesz leader Viktor Orban has said that “Gypsy crime does not exist but Gypsy criminals do”. Solyom told the paper that a major difficulty in addressing problems of the Roma lay with a general ignorance concerning the Roma.
“Any discussion of the Gypsies lacks facts and any real knowledge of the Gypsies. What does a non-Gypsy know about a Gypsy?”
Solyom said that the mainstream should get to know several basic aspects of Roma society, culture, language, their economic situation and diversity.
“Without this knowledge they will certainly remain stereotyped and subject to prejudice,” Solyom said.
The article seems leave the issue of if successive goverments spent over 120 billion forints on the Roma, only 10% (12 billion) has reached it’s target. So what happened to the missing 108 billion forint? That’s a lot of money to not know what happened to it.
I hope Morvai Krisztina will sue the pants off the Sunday Times for this offensive piece of crap:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5821924.ece
This is when “journalism” hits bottom. I’m not a member of the Jobbik or the Garda, but this article is an insult to all Hungarians, and legal revenge is in order.
Quite right,Stan. The Timesonline article is highly defamatory and libelous.
Why has Hungary suddenly become the poltical, ‘hot potato’ for these gutter-snipe,
lowlife hacks.
Irrespective of what part of the political spectrum you inhabit, it is transparent that these ill-advised and bogus statements fan the flames of civil, and political unrest.
It doesn’t matter to these mercenary hacks that what they are reporting on could be, ‘sub judice’ and, they could be ‘locked up’ for their ‘thirty pieces of silver’!
I don’t find anything offencive in the timesonline article. But I do know that continued attacks against the Roma will hurt Hungary more than it will hurt the Roma.
Shouldn’t that be a ‘hot paprika’ rather than a ‘hot potato’.
Joe is at it again:
“continued attacks against the Roma”
What the hell are you taliking about you imbecile?
What “attacks on roma”?
Joe, what a FAG! Just because you like to be pounded from behind doesn’t mean you need to cry a river over it. Oh BOO HOO! Racist comments against the gypsies! If that kinda shit offends you, look up a different site and move into the same mudhut with your beloved parasites.
Magypsy troublemakers
Gypsies are the only REAL HUNGARIANS! Your brown skinned nomadic tribes came from Asia and invaded and pillaged the civilized lands of the Daco-Romans
http://www.geocities.com/serban_marin/brezeanu2002.html
Slovaks and other Slavs. You raped our women that is how todays “Hungarians” originated ****a mixture of gypsies, slavs, germans, jews and romans**** the only “pure Hungarians” are what you call gypsies
Time to embrace your true origins and to apologize to your ancestors the gypsies and to your neighbors!!!
You also drink far too much no wonder your economy is in shambles and everybody hates you barbarian hordes
Hungypsystan should be divided up between Romania, Austria, Slovakia, Serbia and Russia so finally would be peace again in Eastern Europe
Gordon Bennett, S.P.Q.R! I’m the only time-traveller allowed on these here pages! Be off with you before I set K-9 on ya.
You really do know these pages are inhabited by some wrong ‘uns when somekind of loony Slavo-Roman Centurian from the last days of Byzantium Rome turns up and adds his 2cents worth into the argument…
Bojan Pancevski is responsible for that defamatory Sunday Times report. He’s hiding in Vienna with his secret lover.
I found this video, it explains where he’s coming from. Guess which one is Bojan Pancevski :
http://tinyurl.com/ctfqhv
@Anonymous – Hahaha. I guess he must be the one standing at the back. But, seriously, what are you doing in front of him?
This looks like Bojan Pancevski inbreeding with his mom.
@Stan – Wish you were here!
Bojan Pancevski and Mohácsi Viktória. Two filthy, repulsive animals. Disgusting.