Bulgaria's Moderate Nationalists Protest Roma Districts in Sofia

Politics | November 28, 2006, Tuesday // 00:00

Bulgaria's moderate nationalist fraction VMRO has issued a protest statement against the municipal idea of building Roma neighbourhoods in Sofia.

"An approach like that wouldn't help the inclusion of the Roma into the Bulgarian community," VMRO claim in their letter to the media.

Simply moving the ghetto from the Batalova Vodentitsa District some 10 kilometres west would only contribute to the problem and would prove to be an utter waste of money, the fraction says.

VMRO have suggested a long-term solution to the problem which would be relocating people from the illegal ghettoes in all the Sofia districts and making sure their kids attend Bulgarian schools. The municipality and the taxpayers of Sofia have no obligations towards people who haven't registered an address in the capital, VMRO maintain, adding that these people should either return to their hometowns or legalize their stay.

Forming new Roma neighbourhoods will only lead to further segregation and the formations of new ghettoes, the nationalists believe.

They claim that if the municipality does decide to build a Roma district anywhere in the capital they would organize "strong civil protests" and wouldn't allow a "bad managing decision" to be put in motion.

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