Czech Republic: Preparatory committee for new Romani Democratic Party meets

The Mediafax agency reports that Romani people in the
Czech Republic are preparing to establish a new political party, the Romani
Democratic Party (Romská demokratická strana – RDS). Miroslav Tancoš, the head
of the party’s preparatory committee, said the group met in Prague on 11 May
2013 and intends to register with the Czech Interior Ministry this week.

The preparatory committee’s conference was held in the Barikádníků
building in the Strašnice quarter of Prague. Many Romani activists in the Czech
Republic believe their minority needs political representation and are now
taking steps toward that aim.

In 2011 the Czech Finance Ministry registered the
existence of the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí – SRP),
which was also founded by Romani people. "We are discussing the position
of Romani people in the Czech Republic. This party should contribute to
improving the current state of affairs precisely because it will be the first
left-wing Romani party here,” Tancoš said.

Tancoš pointed out that public opinion polls show most
Czech people do not want Romani neighbors. The new party aims to change the
majority population’s position on this issue, which has been frequently
expressed.

The RDS will reportedly also focus on the education and
employment of members of the Romani minority. "We intend to show the
majority society that we want to be their full-fledged partners. We were born
here, this is our home,” Tancoš said.

News server Týden.cz has quoted Tancoš as saying
the new party has raised CZK 2 million for its launch from sponsors in Britain.
The party’s office in Prague should open by 1 June.

Once the party is registered, it will hold a convention to
select a 15-member presidium. “We have already collected 2 750 signatures
on our founding petition, so nothing prevents us from registering the party
this week. We reached agreement on our articles of incorporation, program, and
program declaration at our meeting,” Tancoš said.

Tancoš said the aim of the new party will mainly be to
address housing policy and unemployment. "Those are urgent matters for us,
mainly in the Ostrava district and in North Bohemia, where the situation is
becoming more and more explosive. The Government’s Agency for Social Inclusion is
working tenaciously, but it operates on a small scale only. During the past
four years, the Government allocated just CZK 523 million to the Agency’s
activities and its results are negligible. We would like to connect with all of
the ministries in charge of partially state-owned enterprises. That is where
our people might find jobs, for example, in forestry management,” Tancoš said.

Tancoš believes Romani people do not need preferential access to jobs, but that
partially state-owned enterprises could become engines for the employment of
socially disadvantaged people in general. "Today such enterprises are
issuing tenders and various firms are winning them. If you go take a look at
where that work is being done, you will see 50 Slovaks or Ukrainians doing it while
locals have no work. The state gives locals housing benefits and welfare
instead of jobs. Not to mention the fact that most foreigners work under the
table here and do not pay taxes,” Tancoš said.

Tancoš previously led the Romani Social Democratic Party
(Romská demokratická sociální strana) which was founded in 2005. Six years
later the Supreme Administrative Court dissolved that party because it had not
submitted its annual reports.

The only Romani political party to have succeeded
nationally in the past in the Czech Republic was the Romani Civic Initiative (Romská
občanská iniciativa – ROI). Several ROI representatives were once elected to
parliament.

An estimated quarter of a million Romani people live in
the Czech Republic. Roughly one-third to one-half of them live in so-called
ghettoes, impoverished apartment complexes, neighborhoods, or residential
hotels where most adults are unemployed and families are therefore dependent
upon welfare. Children from such areas attend “practical schools” intended to
serve the lightly mentally disabled, an education that precludes most of them going
on to higher education and improving their ability to assert themselves.