Hungary minister sees stagnation in resolving Roma problems

Brussels (MTI) – Referring to Roma communities in the EU, representatives of civil groups complained about a “continued bad situation” at the European Roma Platform, which ended in Brussels on Tuesday, Hungary’s human resources minister told Hungarian reporters after the event.

“I am not too optimistic, and I see a kind of stagnation,” said Zoltan Balog.

On the subject of segregation, Balog said that education should be given a greater focus. “It is much easier to argue against segregation if an educated Roma job seeker suffers discrimination,” he said.

“As long as people are uneducated, there will be nothing else for them but fostered jobs. Public works schemes are important, but should open the road to free labour market,” he said.

After the conference, Balog met Frans Timmermans, vice-president of the European Commission, and informed him on Hungary’s measures relative to the integration of the Roma minority.

At the meeting, Timmermans voiced concern over Hungary’s advertisement tax, Balog said, and quoted the Dutch politician as saying that the tax had seemed to be directed at a particular company. Balog told him that the Hungarian government would discuss a change proposal on Wednesday.

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Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters