A conference for elites

Kateřina Šafaříková, EU correspondent for the conservative daily Lidové noviny, criticises the procedure for selecting the summit participants: "Anyone who was not informed that the European Roma summit was now meeting in Brussels would never have found out. ... The organisers invited roughly 500 participants, among them representatives of important Roma organisations. Nevertheless one is easily left with the impression that this is a debate about the Roma without the Roma. Or more precisely: without the Roma whose problems are being discussed. Those present at the meeting are people who are skilled at talking with ministers and EU commissioners - the Roma elites. Livia Jarok, for example, a young and pretty member of the European Parliament from Hungary. She is a Roma, but she studied at prestigious schools in Britain and elsewhere. After appearing at the morning session she went down to the lobby and gave interviews about discrimination, poverty, miserable living conditions and stereotypes. All in impeccable English."

» more information (external link, Czech)
More from the press review on the subject » Integration, » Minorities, » Europe