Site of the Month:
European Stability Initiative (ESI) is a site where you can find reports on South Eastern Europe and European enlargement Policy. Recent projects are about the situation in Turkey and EU policy on Visa-Free Travel for the Western Balkan.
Slovakia
Website of the Politeia Member from Slovakia: Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia
For years, Slovaks, Hungarians and Roma have co-existed in Gemer. Economic and social situation is not easy in this region since the region is well-known for its high unemployment rate of its citizens. Many of the unemployed – mostly Roma - had been working in agriculture especially at the local cooperative farms for years. After closing of those farms, it becomes very difficult for people to find jobs. However, Roma in Simonovce are lucky. Local mayor, Mr. Emil Madarász, with his fatherly attitude gives them a helping hand and helps them any way possible. Together with his vice-mayor of Roma origin Ernest Lakatoš they do not complain about how bad the situation is but think about future possibilities and how to improve the current status.
The enlargement of the European Union on 1 May 2004, with mainly Central and Eastern European countries, was the first in which human and minority rights were included in the accession criteria. The protection of minority rights as a condition for EU-membership seemed promising for the large Romani minority in Slovakia. During the negotiation process in particular, the European Union had the opportunity to influence the socio-economic position of the Roma in Slovakia using possible EU-membership as a carrot.
The Bratislava Network Effect, hosted by the British Council Slovakia, IVO and Demos will take place on 18-20 October 2006. The topic for exploration is civil society and the event will be conducted in English. At its core civil society has been understood as the ‘good society’- a traditional European vision of what society should look like- with values and ambitions based around the common good. Many have argued that Europe embodies a distinctive set of values associated with a quality of life based on both social equality and secular liberalism. Robert Kagan famously summed it up when he described Europeans as being from Venus, with an ideal of society as being peaceful, collaborative and cosmopolitan.