Slovakia: Local Romani councilors give up their remuneration

Five newly-elected local councilors from the Romani Coalition Party (Strana romské koalice - SRK) in the town of Kamenná Poruba (Vranov nad Topľou district) have surprised the public by giving up their remuneration. The councilors will perform their roles on the local council completely free of charge.
The Romani councilors had declared they would not be taking the remuneration of EUR 22 per month because of the municipality's bad financial situation and have kept their promise. They claim they want to set an example for other politicians.
The SRK has governed the town since the last elections. In addition to the post of mayor, it has a majority on the local council, where Romani people occupy five of the nine seats.
"We decided to give up our remuneration as councilors. The municipality is not doing well, we must save money," Róbert Kováč (45) and Andrej Tippan (42) announced on behalf of all the SRK councilors; both men are otherwise unemployed.
The councilors said they were giving up their EUR 22 per month in remuneration out of conviction, not because it might affect their welfare. The men receive EUR 120 monthly from the labor office and also perform minor community service jobs.
The other two SRK councilors are tradespeople and the third works as a driver. The rest of the municipal councilors will not be giving up their remuneration.
Newly-elected Mayor Josef Gaďo (58) says the local government is grappling with debts and also suspects there have been scams involving municipal property. "I proposed that I receive just the legal minimum pay, as mayor my salary is EUR 834 per month," he admitted.
"We want collaboration in the community to be good. We don't want the majority to fear the minority or vice versa, we don't want prejudices. We don't want to burn bridges, we want to build them and to create good interpersonal relationships here," the mayor said.
Don't miss:
- Slovakia: Romani journalist accuses those involved in the Romani issue of careerism
- Slovakia: Candidate offering remuneration to Roma for sterilization
- Slovakia: Romani parties nominate hundreds of candidates for local elections
- Almost half of all Roma in Slovakia are integrated, others live without sewerage
Related articles:
- Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová met with Roma students on the occasion of World Roma Day
- Slovak Govt Plenipotentiary for Romani Communities joins aid effort for refugees from Ukraine, monitoring patrols will make sure Romani refugees are assisted too
- Slovak firefighter tells ROMEA TV his remarks about Roma from Ukraine were based on what they themselves told him and the Czech reporter misunderstood him
- Slovak Interior Minister refuses to comment on firefighter's racist remarks about Romani refugees from Ukraine
- Commentary: Stop idealizing poverty
- Excluded Roma in Slovakia have died of COVID-19 more than non-Roma due to low rates of vaccination, their employment rates have also stagnated
- Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia: NGO reports that LGBT+ Roma face discrimination from their own families as well as majority societies in these EU Member States
- Slovak Govt Plenipotentiary for Romani Communities Ján Hero: Census numbers do not reflect the actual number of Romani men and women here
- Slovak census: More than 156 000 people declared Romani nationality, more than 100 000 declared Romanes as their mother tongue
- Slovak NGO chair says half of all Romani women living in excluded communities experience domestic violence
- Editors at Slovak news server apologize for anti-Romani, racist joke, but legislator is filing a complaint
- Slovak court finally ends absurd story of Romani victims of police brutality being charged with perjury, exonerating the last such defendant