Europa

A neo-Nazi at the head of Slovakia’s Banská Bystrica region huge threat to European values, says President Karl-Heinz Lambertz


A neo-Nazi at the head of Slovakia’s Banská Bystrica region huge threat to European values, says President Karl-Heinz Lambertz

Brussels, 25 November 2013

“I am appalled by the election of Mr. Kotleba, whose political actions and discourse are in flagrant contradiction with the values of the European Union”, said today Karl-Heinz Lambertz, commenting on the alarming 55.5% obtained by the leader of the ultra-nationalist People’s Party – Our Slovakia (LSNS) and former leader of the now banned neo-Nazi Slovak Togetherness-National Party in the second round of the country’s regional elections held on 23 November. ‘The European values, as set in article 6 of the Treaty of the European Union, apply to all levels of government in the EU. It is now up to the Slovak government to take its responsibilities and ensure that article 6 is fully respected’, stressed the President.
Karl-Heinz Lambertz expressed particular concern over the high risks of victimisation of the Roma population by the new leader of one of the eight Slovak regions –  Banská Bystrica – inhabitants of which incidentally had led the country’s opposition to the Nazi regime some 70 years earlier. Marian Kotleba has been involved in racist propaganda and has called for cuts to welfare spending on Roma “parasites”. ‘It is my conviction that the issues at stake for the region remain how to combat high unemployment, ensure social integration of all vulnerable groups and jumpstart growth’, underlined Karl-Heinz Lambertz.

The fight against discrimination and social exclusion of Roma people, also with regard to accessing public services such as education, housing and healthcare provided at local and regional level, is a key field of action for the PES Group in the CoR. The PES-led opinion on Roma integration strategies, to be adopted at the CoR’s plenary session on 28 November (rapporteur: Roger Stone, Leader of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, UK) emphasises the role of regional and local authorities in addressing the challenges facing Roma people and their host communities. A conference on this topic will be jointly organised with the Socialist Group in the European Parliament on 5 December.