Czech cabinet to deal with Lety pig farm soon-minister

A solution to the problem of a large pig farm situated on the site of a former wartime internment camp for Romanies in Lety, south Bohemia, is being prepared by a special working group, Dzamila Stehlikova, Czech minister in charge of minorities and human rights, said today.

She was reacting to today’s European Parliament’s resolution on Romany policy in which it criticised the Czech Republic over the farm (more here…).
Stehlikova said that the Czech government would start dealing with the problem again soon.

The working group comprises representatives of individual ministries, the South Bohemian region and Romany activists.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (senior ruling Civic Democrats, ODS) said last year that the government had no money to purchase the farm from its owners and remove it to another place.

Stehlikova said that the talks had been held with South Bohemian representatives and owners of the AGPI company that owns the farm. "We have achieved considerable progress in the negotiations and are capable of reaching an acceptable solution in the near future," she said.
"The main condition is that the descendants of the victims are satisfied. This is much more important for me than the European Parliament’s verdict that we, however, will certainly respect," she said.

In its resolution the European Parliament called on the European Commission and other authorities to do their best to have the pig farm in Lety removed and a dignified monument to the Romany victims erected.

Stehlikova said that the building of a dignified commemorative place on the site would be the first step. After this, various alternatives will be considered, including changing the production and removal of the farm.

She did not rule out the establishment of a special fund from which the project would be financed.

It is also possible to use the money from European funds, she said, adding that individual solutions were to be submitted to the government at the end of this year.
The Czech state negotiated with the AGPI company in the past, most recently in 2005, but without success.

According to estimates, the price demanded for the premises could amount to one billion crowns, though no concrete sum has been released.
According to historical documents, some 1,308 Romanies were deported to Lety during WW2, while 326 people perished there and more than 500 of its inmates ended up in the extermination camp in Oswiecim (Auschwitz).

Romany activists have in the long run demanded that the pig farm in Lety be removed. They point out that it defames the victims’ memory. The activists have addressed the U.N. asking for its support in this case.

Two years ago, the EP also called on the Czech Republic to remove the pig farm.