Former govt worsened poverty of Slovak Romanies - minister

The poverty of Romanies has deepened in the past years in Slovakia due to insensitive social measures taken by the previous right-wing government of Mikulas Dzurinda, Labour Minister Viera Tomanova told journalists today.
Iveta Radicova, her predecessor in the post under the Dzurinda government, has dismissed the criticism.

"The then reform of the welfare system implied cuts in social benefits, which deepened the poverty of many people," Tomanova (Smer-Social Democracy) said after a conference on job opportunities for Romanies.

Dzurinda’s government in 2004 toughened the rules for the granting of social benefits, mainly to families with many children.
Tomanova stated that Romany unemployment has dropped only slightly in the past years.
"Over 80 percent of the country’s 400,000 Romanies are unemployed," she said.

Romanies also prevail among the Slovak inhabitants who have never worked and are not accustomed to work.
Radicova,(senior opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union, SDKU-DS) defended the toughening of the social benefits system.

"The former government understood that helping families exclusively by means of social allowances resulted to the deepening of the poverty of Romanies," Radicova told CTK.

Sure of regular income, in many cases quite high in view of a large number of kids, the Romanies felt no motivation to seek jobs before the reform, she added.

Dzurinda’s government also saw to Romany parent receiving child allowances only if their children attended school.
The previous cabinet also earmarked money for scholarships for pupils and subsidies to their catering, Radicova said.
According to Tomanova, the state wants to introduce allowances for Romanies commuting to work and subsidise traditional Romany crafts.

Education of Romany children must be improved as well, she said, without elaborating.