Opposition DK calls on minister to apologise for ethnic Hungarian Roma remarks

The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) has called on the human resources minister to apologise to the Hungarian Roma community beyond the border for “labelling them a burden” in a speech he gave earlier this week.

DK lawmaker Lajos Oláh cited Zoltán Balog as saying at the 28th Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő) summer university, in central Romania, that the ruling Fidesz party had yet to decide if it would consider the ethnic Hungarian Roma community “a resource or a burden”.

He also cited Balog as having said that the government wants to introduce a segregated education system in ethnic Hungarian communities beyond the border, shutting out Roma people from Hungarian schools.

Oláh said his party wanted to know the government’s plans in connection with the Hungarian Roma community abroad and their education.

No one could be excluded from education based on their ethnicity, he said, adding that integrated education was the future. If Roma and non-Roma Hungarians learn to coexist as early as in school, it will be easier for them to coexist peacefully in society, Oláh said.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI