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The Million-Euro Question Haunting Slovakia’s Roma Inclusion Efforts

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, April 8th – The familiar echo of persistent exclusion hung in the air on April 8th, World Roma Day, as community leaders, civil society advocates, institutional representatives, and academics convened in Bratislava. The topic of discussion, facilitated by the Roma Education Fund Slovakia, centered on a seemingly straightforward hypothetical: What could be achieved with a million euros dedicated to bolstering Roma civic participation?

The brainstorming yielded a range of potentially impactful initiatives: mentorship programs for young Roma, specialized training to cultivate Roma political leaders, and targeted support for empowering Roma women. Yet, beneath the surface of these proposals lay a sobering consensus. Even a substantial sum like a million euros felt inadequate to truly dismantle the deep-seated barriers hindering the political engagement of Slovakia’s Roma communities.

This Bratislava roundtable marked the culmination of a months-long inquiry spearheaded by REF Slovakia. The organization embarked on this research in late 2024, conducting in-depth interviews and regional roundtables in Rimavská Sobota and Košice, seeking to unravel the enduring puzzle of Roma underrepresentation in Slovak public life. Despite decades of EU funding poured into Roma inclusion initiatives, countless grassroots projects, scholarship programs, and the dedicated efforts of civil society organizations, tangible progress in fostering meaningful civic participation has remained frustratingly elusive.

The research also deliberately engaged the Hungarian-speaking Roma minority through a dedicated discussion group, underscoring the complex interplay of ethnicity and language that further complicates the path to inclusion for many within the community.

The obstacles identified throughout REF Slovakia’s investigation painted a depressingly familiar picture. The legacy of segregated schooling and alarmingly high dropout rates continues to plague Roma youth. Persistent language and literacy gaps create significant hurdles to accessing information and engaging in public discourse. The chronic absence of Roma voices in elected office reinforces a sense of powerlessness. Roma women face a double burden of marginalization, compounded by both their ethnicity and gender. Deep-rooted distrust in institutions, often stemming from past experiences of discrimination and neglect, further isolates communities. Internal fragmentation within Roma communities themselves also presents challenges. And, omnipresent, are the pervasive negative stereotypes that fuel prejudice and hinder social mobility.

“We are constantly diagnosing the same problems,” said Stanislav Daniel, director of REF Slovakia, who guided the final discussion in Bratislava.

Across the European continent, the resilience of democratic institutions is facing significant tests. However, for Slovakia’s Roma communities, estimated to comprise 8-10% of the national population, this test of inclusion began long ago. The roundtable participants pointed to a stark reality: if even relatively privileged youth and women within the mainstream population grapple with political participation, the challenges are exponentially greater for young Roma women emerging from deeply marginalized communities.

The Bratislava conversation thus shifted its focus from traditional notions of charity and moved towards the critical issue of power. The central question evolved from “How can we help the Roma?” to the more fundamental: “Why don’t they have the tools to help themselves?”

Some of the answers offered were structural in nature. Participants highlighted the limitations of short-term philanthropic funding cycles that often fail to foster sustainable change. They also critiqued projects designed primarily to satisfy donor requirements rather than truly addressing the needs of the communities they aim to serve. The inherent opacity of political processes, often requiring insider knowledge and networks, further excludes those on the margins.

However, the discussion also delved into deeply ingrained cultural factors. A palpable lack of faith in institutions, born from repeated experiences of failure and broken promises, was evident. The chronic underrepresentation of Roma in positions of influence perpetuates the belief that participation is futile. Furthermore, the prevailing media landscape, which often portrays Roma as societal problems rather than active agents of change, contributes to negative perceptions and hinders their integration.

While the roundtable concluded with the formulation of concrete policy recommendations, soon to be publicly released, the most striking takeaway was a pervasive sense of exhaustion. Many Roma individuals and those working alongside them expressed feeling trapped in a seemingly endless cycle – caught between the rhetoric of inclusion and the stubborn reality of persistent exclusion.

And so, the initial million-euro question continues to resonate. If such a significant sum isn’t sufficient to catalyze meaningful change, what truly would be?

The emerging consensus pointed away from purely financial solutions and towards the fundamental need for power. The desire is not merely to be consulted, but to be trusted as leaders and decision-makers. The aspiration is to be integral in shaping democracy, not to passively await its benefits to trickle down.

“What we’re really asking for,” Daniel concluded, “is to stop being seen as a problem to be solved—and to start being recognized as part of the solution.”