Czech mayor disagrees with study finding an excluded locality in his town

On 3 July the Mayor of Milovice, ing. Milan Pour, posted his official standpoint on the town’s website about the results of the recent Analysis of Socially Excluded Localities in the Czech Republic, a research project commissioned by the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry and produced by the GAC, s.r.o. company. The mayor’s statement says that the factual extent of the area of Milovice which might be considered excluded does not provide a basis for including Milovice among the towns with socially excluded localities, as "this concerns a part of town where approximately 160 -180 persons showing signs of social exclusion live".

In proportion to the total population of Milovice, which is around 11 000 permanently registered persons, the mayor sees the number of supposedly socially excluded persons as negligible. As a result, both Milovice and the Department of Education, Social Affairs, Health and Culture of the town of Lysá nad Labem are asking the ministry to revise the Analysis, expressing doubts as to whether other localities might have been, in their view, misidentified as part of the reported doubling of excluded localities in the Czech Republic since 2006.

News server Romea.cz asked the GAC company to comment on this matter. "First and foremost it must be emphasized that the municipalities listed on the map of socially excluded localities are not completely socially excluded localities in and of themselves but are municipalities where a socially excluded locality has been identified. It is logical that in cities or larger towns these localities might comprise a relatively smaller or small part of the territory. These localities might also arise in municipalities where the quality of life outside of them is good overall. That corresponds to one of the main findings of the research, which is that socially excluded localities are losing their previously clear borders. Social exclusion takes many forms and the spatial dimension is just one of them. In many cases, people can be excluded from using certain services because of reactions to them by local staff and staff in the environs, because of their own lack of information, or because of low income. The context is always taken into account both within the framework of the analysis itself and the map," said Karel Čada, GAC’s Project Manager.

"Last but not least, it must be pointed out that an advisory committee comprised of experts from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic supervised the entire course of the research. We discussed our partial findings with them as well as the methodology used. The researchers who collected and analyzed the data were experienced professionals with practical experience in research in this field (e.g., they had produced situation reports for the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion). Data about socially excluded localities does not only come from municipal representatives, but also from the inhabitants of the socially excluded localities themselves, from Labor Offices, from non-governmental, non-profit organizations, and from representatives of the police," Čada said.

News server Romea.cz will continue to follow developments in this case. The updated online map of socially excluded localities is expected to be published sometime this month.