European Stink in Roma Ghetto

Novinite Insider » EDITORIAL | July 2, 2006, Sunday // 00:00
European Stink in Roma Ghetto Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia News Agency)

By Milena Hristova

2 February 2005, Sofia. Prime ministers of eight Central and Eastern European countries pledge to fight Roma plight as they launch the Roma Inclusion Decade. Roma diva Sofi Marinova entertains the high-ranking guests, while I am shocked to discover my wallet has been snatched. "I should have expected this," I think as I hear James Wolfensohn and George Soros condemn the prejudiced like me and feel the itch to tell them my story.

A year and a half later, Bulgaria is a day away from assuming officially chairmanship of the Roma Inclusion Decade initiative. Sofia district Vazrazhdane however is on the brink of ethnic clashes as illegally living Romas are taking the upper hand, supported by members of the European Parliament and an arm-twisted prime minister. While the legal residents - who unfortunately happen to be Bulgarians - continue to live surrounded by the misery of the Roma ghetto and can't even open their windows because of the suffocating stink. Now that MEPs stopped the demolition of the ghetto, the Bulgarians live not only in fear, but also in anger. And thank Europe when they breathe in the stench of the animals in the ghetto underneath their window.

Everyone has the right to write a letter. It is suspicious however how a letter from a handful of MEPs can revoke a decision of Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court. It stinks of primitive populism when a foreign minister joins the chorus in support of the Roma people. Do they know that most of them have another house or property, which they have rented out or sold so that they can live for free in their favourite ghetto?

I am afraid Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and the European Parliament members are unable to grasp the real dimensions of the problem and fail to see the human rights of the legally residing Bulgarians are violated. That's why I suggest that they move into Vazrazhdane blocks of apartments, live there for a week and then convene again. I am sure they will think twice before taking a final decision.

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