Members of the European Parliament (EP) have described the conditions in which Romani people are living in the settlements of Slovakia as a discredit to the country and a scandal for the EU after a delegation from the EP's Committee for Regional Development visited at the invitation of Slovak MEP Peter Pollák, who is himself of Romani origin, and visited the district of Michalovce, where the municipality of Petrovce nad Laborcom has a Romani settlement on its outskirts. The MEPs paid their visit to assess how EU cohesion policy resources are being taken advantage of there to improve the inclusion of Romani residents. 

Pollák said that while enough financing has been allocated from EU funds to resolve issues involving the inclusion of marginalized communities of Romani people, the problem is the lack of political will to make such investments among those responsible for local policy. "Why, for example, are hundreds of thousands of euro in EU financing being drawn in Trebišov, but not one single euro goes to solving the problems of the impoverished people in the local settlement?" he asked.

Link: http://www.romea.cz/en/news/world/meps-say-conditions-for-roma-in-the-settlements-of-eastern-slovakia-are-disgraceful-medieval-scandalous-and-shameful

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