Government Proxy Ravasz Holds Talks with Dozens of Roma Mayors

Vtackovce, January 18 (TASR) - The priorities of the Office of the Government Proxy for Roma Communities and options for drawing European Funds for various local projects were some of the issues discussed at Friday's meeting between Government Proxy Abel Ravasz and around three dozen Roma mayors from across Slovakia, TASR learnt on the same day. The talks were held in the village of Vtackovce (Kosice region) and were chaired by mayor of Vtackovce Gabriela Gaborova, one of the two female Roma mayors in Slovakia. According to Ravasz, Slovakia saw a record number of Roma village mayors elected in the municipal elections last year - he estimates their total number at 45. He called the talks extremely useful for both sides. "We can discuss like this the priorities of the Office and, on the other hand, can listen to feedback from mayors concerning what the areas where we need to do more are," Ravasz told journalists. Among the suggestions and complaints from the mayors, Ravasz cited the lack of resources from European Funds to build primary schools, the need for greater support from employers in providing jobs to people from marginalised communities and issues related to land re-allocation. Gaborova praised the meeting as beneficial for the mayors. "We were given a great amount of information regarding projects, including for our village." The meeting was also attended by Roma MP Stefan Vavrek, who informed the participants about his activities as a lawmaker. "We'd like to create some sort of joint forum for discussing current problems, and I made a public pledge that I'll visit every mayor in their village," he added. mf/df