Last Tuesday the ruling Směr (Direction) party in Slovakia was joined by opposition MPs to override a presidential veto of an amendment requiring work in exchange for aid to those in material distress. Unemployed persons will have to work at least 32 hours a month in order to receive the state benefit of EUR 61.60.

For the first time ever, the Slovak Police have brought charges in a case of electoral fraud. Detectives believe the Slovak man charged allegedly promised voters a discount coupon worth EUR 5 and tobacco if they would vote for certain candidates in the elections to the Banská Bystrice Regional Council.

Speaking in Prague yesterday, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said government can confront the growth in extremism by "managing to solve the so-called Romani question." He was responding to a question about what would stop the growing popularity in the Central European region of people like Slovak right-wing extremist Marian Kotleba.

As news server Romea.cz reported earlier this week, the recent session of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on EU recommendations for Romani integration measures included statements by some senators that were a testament to their antigypsyism, their crassness, their ignorance of the issue, and their sense of superiority combined with a need to ridicule others. News server Romea.cz has reached out to several leading figures from the NGO sphere and politics and asked them for their opinions of the Senate's performance.

Members of the Romani Union Party in Slovakia (Strana romské unie na Slovensku - SRÚS) are calling on newly-elected governor of the Banská Bystrice region Marián Kotleba to meet with them before Christmas and show them his plans for their community. The party wants to offer its own proposals for improving the situation of Romani people to him.

The recent Czech senate debate of recommendations from the Council of the EU for effective measures in the area of Romani integration in the EU Member States can only be characterized as dense. In addition to several truthful statements, the discourse included many zingers from infamous politicians such as Jaroslav Doubrava, Miroslav Krejči, Jaroslav Kubera and Pavel Lebeda.

A total of 40 nonprofit organizations and several eminent figures in the Czech Republic have issued an open letter calling on the heads of the ANO, Christian Democratic and Social Democratic parties to consider establishing a Ministry for Human Rights, Minorities and Equal Opportunities should they form a government. Proponents of the move believe it would mean such issues would receive greater weight and would not only help solve country's problems with ghettos, but would even benefit the economy as a whole.