Hungary’s Roma clash over graft, leadership

Budapest, October 1 (MTI) – Hungary’s Roma are “on the verge of tearing themselves apart,” a senior Roma official said on Thursday after an extraordinary meeting of the National Roma Self-Government (ORO) was abandoned after a number of delegates staged a walk-out.

Laszlo Vajda, deputy leader of the Lungo Drom party which is affiliated to the ruling Fidesz party, went on to say that Lungo Drom itself was “tearing itself apart” and that its leader, Florian Farkas who is government commissioner for Roma affairs, was aiding and abetting this process.

The meeting came after investigators of the tax and customs office (NAV) had raided the ORO’s headquarters and seized documents on Thursday.

Vajda added that Farkas had needed a strongman to head ORO, but because Hegedus had taken certain steps, Farkas now treated him as an enemy.

ORO’s chairman, Istvan Hegedus of Lungo Drom, had asked the assembly to evaluate the work of the organisation’s financial control committee, which was investigating alleged graft connected with the ORO, and to discuss a proposed amendment to its budget.

But a row developed over voting procedure and several representatives left the chamber, after which Hegedus ordered a suspension of the meeting. He told journalists afterwards that everyone wanted a renewal of the organisation. He said that over the past 1-2 years the ORO had failed to serve the interests of voters and it was of paramount importance to continue negotiations on this matter with representatives. He added that a divided ORO was not in the interests of Hungary’s Gypsy community.

He said the current ORO leadership had not committed any abuses and was not responsible for “what has happened in the recent past”. He insisted that the people who committed the abuses had already “left the sinking ship and are now laughing at us,” adding that “it wasn’t because of Gypsies that the current situation has emerged.”

Asked about who he was referring to, he replied that “everyone is absolutely clear about who led the office of the ORO in the previous cycle.”

Istvan Makai, chairman of the Roma Civil Bloc, told journalists that the events proved that Istvan Hegedus had lost the support of the majority in the ORO. He said that Hegedus and Farkas, ORO’s former chairman, should “hold each other’s hand and leave the arena of Hungarian politics and Roma public life,” and the National Roma Self-Government should undergo a process of complete renewal.

Mihaly Dancs, head of the Roma Civil Rights Movement, said that the ORO, in its present state, could not fulfil its role and it would be better if it were to dissolve itself and form a new organisation.

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