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Cunek wants CzechRep to spend 14 billion crowns on Romany housing

22 October 2012
2 minute read

The Czech Republic could spend 10 to 14 billion crowns on upgrading local Romanies’ housing in the next ten to fifteen years, under a plan of solving problems faced by the Romany community that is under preparation, Deputy PM and Local Development Minister Jiri Cunek said today.

Cunek, chairman of the junior ruling Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and the draft plan’s author, was speaking at a conference focusing on excluded Romany localities.

The government should discuss the plan, on which Human Rights and Minorities Minister Dzamila Stehlikova (Greens) and other ministers are to cooperate, next June at the latest.

"This conference, if it were to be meaningful, must discuss reconstruction of houses and construction of new ones. All this costs money," Cunek told CTK.

"It is a horrible sum, but it would become several times higher in a few years unless we do it," he said, referring to the planned investment in Romany housing projects.

Cunek said the goal of the plan he is preparing is to bring Romanies "to normal style of life," in which they would not abuse social allowances and would send their kids to school.

Some Romany activists and members of the Government Council for Romany Affairs dislike the plan, however.

They mind the planned division of Romanies into three groups, the most problematic of which would be accommodated in hostels with a tougher regime and supervision.

Cunek today called this aspect far from essential. It is rather important to motivate Romanies to become active.

The state should draft a plan and provide financial means from which individual municipalities would finance concrete measures aimed at motivating Romanies, he said.

"Only if the efforts to motivate fail, repressions must be resorted to," Cunek said.

Today’s conference was mainly attended by Romany regional coordinators and advisers, street social workers and NGO employers.

They voiced no reservations about Cunek’s speech, even briefly applauded it.

The problem of the excluded Romany localities is an urgent topic. The Janov housing estate in Litvinov, north Bohemia, is one of such places where a large Romany community lives.

On Saturday, extremists organised an unauthorised meeting there which developed into clashes with the police who tried to protect Romanies against their attacks.

Though the police succeeded in their effort three policemen and an extremist were injured in the conflict.

Romanies are afraid that extremists may return to the town.

Cunek said the approval of his plan by the government would prevent similar clashes from repeating.

"This almost neo-Nazi event is a reaction to the unsolved problems," Cunek said.

If the state had resolved the problems in these localities, extremists would not try to do so in their own way," Cunek said.

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