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Opinion

Karel Holomek: Czech PM should have a Romani advisor

27 March 2014
2 minute read

The Czech PM has assembled 36 advisers for a mere half a million crowns, but the money is not the point. The sheer number of his advisers strikes me as fearsome. 

I do not believe the PM will be better equipped to make decisions the more advisers he has. With all due respect to the names that have been published, according to what I know about previous advisers of all sorts, this is no joke.

Even though I do not believe the number of advisers to the PM should increase, I do see that one kind of adviser is missing among all those appointed. There is no adviser on coexistence with Romani people in this society.

Let me explain what I mean, so as to avoid being suspected of an inappropriate obsession with addressing this issue. Addressing problems in the area of coexistence is what we might call the touchstone of a functioning democracy.

Democracy is what is at stake here. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dientsbier has somewhat made up for this deficiency by appointing the well-known Romani journalist Jarmila Balážová as his spokesperson.   

However, I would almost say that for that particular ministry, such an appointment is obligatory. How much more significant would the impact be if one of the PM’s advisers were Romani!

Such a move would finally (at least at first glance) make this government more credible in terms of its intention to do something for better coexistence with this minority, which is the most-rejected in this society. All the more so as Prime Minister Sobotka has recently received a letter of concern from the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Nils Muižnieks, about the recent anti-Romani events in the Czech Republic, including manifestations of antigypsyism.

Prime Minister Sobotka has promised to correct the situation. Without an adviser on Romani affairs, this will be difficult for him, and whatever he says will sound very untrustworthy. 

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