At the margins of a state celebration in Lenart, the Prime Minister Janez Janša met the head of the Slovenian Roma Association, Jožko Horvat Muc, to discuss the current situation regarding the problem of the Roma family temporarily housed in Postojna, and the draft act on the Roma minority in Slovenia, which the government yesterday sent to the National Assembly.

 

PHOTO: Stane Baluh, M.A., Director of the Office for Nationalities, Prime Minister Janez Janša, and Jožek Horvat - Muc, Head of the Slovenian Roma Association. (Photo: Primož Lavre/Salomon 2000)

According to the PM, the draft act will establish legal grounds for resolving this and other issues in accordance with Slovenia's Constitution. It will enable peaceful coexistence between the Roma minorities in various parts of Slovenia - where situations differ - and local Slovenian people. The PM stressed that the act would provide for the normal schooling of Roma children in a way that would maintain peace and security for both parties, thus establishing the basic conditions for a normal life and the recognition of both cultures. "This act will also enable spatial development activities, and the legalisation of Roma settlements in areas where this can be done without posing a threat to the local environment or population. This has been the greatest threat so far. Of more than 100 Roma settlements in Slovenia, 70 are illegal, which is the primary source of conflicts in many towns and municipalities in Slovenia."

 

With regard to the current situation, the PM added that the government was making great efforts to find a suitable home for the Strojan family. "The Government greatly appreciates the efforts of the Slovenian Roma Association and their help in solving this problem. Unlike many others who only talk and criticise, the Slovenian Roma Association is actively involved and trying to calm the situation and create an atmosphere which would enable us to find a concrete solution. If some Roma individuals from Dolenjska would do the same, perhaps we would have already found a solution," said the PM. According to Mr Janša, finding a home for the family in one of the existing Roma settlements has proven to be rather unrealistic, as this family either does not wish to live in a particular settlement or the settlement does not wish to accept them. "It is not only a question of tolerance between the Roma and the majority, but also of tolerance and co-existence among the Roma themselves," stressed the PM.