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Slovaks selling land cheap to Romani settlement residents

30 November 2012
2 minute read

News server iDNES.cz reports that the Slovaks are contemplating what to do with illegal Romani settlements in their country. One such settlement is in the village of Krásnohorské Podhradie, where part of the land is owned by neo-Nazi Marián Kotleba, who has threatened to demolish all of the small Romani homes currently on his property. Now Erika Gažiková, a member of the Romani community there, made enough extra money gathering berries and mushrooms this summer to purchase the land around her home in the Romani settlement from the village, as have other Romani residents.

Gažiková paid EUR 0.66 per square meter. That’s the price of a small beer in Prague. About 900 Romani people live in the settlement where Kotleba owns approximately 800 square meters of land. He has threatened several times to raze the small homes on his land where Romani people are now living.

Police maneuvers have take place in the settlement because of Kotleba’s threats more than once. The village wants to calm the situation, give the Romani residents a helping hand, and offer them municipally-owned land at prices they can afford.

The price of EUR 0.66 per square meter was set by the municipality in 2007. Town councilors want to raise it now, but not beyond EUR 5.00 per square meter. The market price in the village, which is sustained by its proximity to the famous Krásná Horka Castle, is twice that.

"This low price in the Romani settlement should motivate local Romani people to get their affairs in order," Mayor Peter Bollo told the Slovaki daily Korzár. Some Romani people have bought their land in order to access the state housing benefit of EUR 100 per month. They only have the right to such monies if they are unemployed and reside on a legally-owned plot.

The problem of illegal settlements concerns several hundred thousand Romani people in Slovakia. NGOs are now helping Romani people purchase the land they live on. A program to address the situation is also being designed by the Slovak state after years of dilly-dallying. According to that program, the state would purchase privately-owned land now occupied by Romani settlements and either lease or sell it to the Romani residents under advantageous terms. Part of the buyout will evidently be financed by EU funds.

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