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Hungarian minister’s remarks link Roma community to train toilet cleaning: Roma teacher responds
Hungary’s Construction and Transport Minister, János Lázár, has issued a public apology after remarks he made about the Roma community and train toilet cleaning duties caused a nationwide backlash, drawing criticism from civil organisations, politicians, and members of the Roma intelligentsia.
The controversy began at a public forum held in Balatonalmádi, where Lázár was responding to a question about Hungary’s demographic challenges and labour shortages. During his answer, the minister argued that Hungary should rely on its “internal reserves” rather than migrant labour, explicitly referring to the country’s Roma population.
“Internal reserves” instead of migration
Lázár stated that Hungary’s decision to keep its borders closed to migrants means that labour shortages must be addressed domestically. According to him, the country’s “reserve” lies not in immigration, but within Hungarian society itself.
He went on to say that if there are no migrants and someone needs to clean the toilets on InterCity trains — a job he claimed Hungarian voters are reluctant to apply for — then the solution is to “tap into internal reserves”, which he described as Hungary’s Roma community.
Although Lázár stressed that he did not intend to target anyone personally, his remarks were widely perceived as stigmatising and discriminatory, particularly because they appeared to associate the Roma population with low-status work.
Claims of integration and work-based society
In his speech, the minister argued that one of the government’s greatest successes has been creating educational and employment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Roma citizens. He linked this to Hungary’s family support policies, claiming they resulted in the birth of around 200,000 additional children, alongside what he described as successful Roma integration through work.
Lázár also emphasised that social cooperation depends on everyone following the “rules of the game”, including working if able and obeying the law. Those who do so, he said, can expect support from society and the majority population.
Public reaction and Roma self-government response
The remarks quickly spread online and triggered strong reactions on social media, where both Roma and non-Roma users condemned the statements. Critics argued that Lázár’s comments reinforced harmful stereotypes and reduced an entire community to a labour reserve.
The National Roma Self-Government of Hungary called on the minister to clarify and correct his words, urging him to clearly affirm that the Roma community is regarded as a partner by the government rather than a stigmatised group.
Everyone is a child of God, and, that so, you want to be constructive and respectful.
That said, there are more than a few groups of people who have a large portion of dangerously derelict people.
In Hungary, The Roma qualify as such, because virutally everywhere I see they live, watching videos, it looks like the residential waste dumps in Haiti – not to mention the endless violence and drugs.
It’s another reason I would prefer Mi Hazánk, if I were Hungarian, for that party does not act like this problem does not exist, but, by the same token, it’s leaders do not make callous humour out of it.
The situation is not humourous with the Gypsies, in Hungary, anymore than it is with the Negroes in the disUnited States.
Only racists use the word “Negroes” to describe “Blacks”. That word died some time in the 1970s. So are you American as you have claimed to be or not Mouton? You are not. You are a Russian bot. Readers never trust anything someone says or writes when they deceive you about something as important as their identity and Mouton peddles and endless drivel of pure shit.
I reject the stereotyping that Roma are derelict and/or violent. Also – gypsies and Negroes??? Really? Says a lot about you.
If you cared about being constructive instead of polarizing, I suggest focusing on specific physical locations, crime and public health data as well as policies, not ethnicity.
On a more humourous note I was in the gym watching the TV monitor and I see the premier of my province giving a speech with a large sign behind him that read ” ROMA 2026″. The first thing that came to mind was that the Roma in Ontario had some kind of conference which was odd and then I read the small letters “Rural Ontarion Municipal Association”. As for Lazar well that a-hole is not a human being and any politician that makes those kind of remarks would be forced to resign in a normal country with a normal government. Hungarians you don’t have a normal government but you can become a normal country once again if you get rid of this stinking bag of slime called Fidesz.