Civil Society in Action: Statement Regarding the Crisis Situation

This letter comes to us from the Roma Virtual Network.




To: José Manuel Barroso
President of the European Commission

To: Viviane Reding
European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship

To: Cecilia Malmström
European Commissioner for Home Affairs

To: Kristalina Georgieva
European Commissioner for International Cooperation,
Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response


28 September, 2011


STATEMENT


Civil Society in Action

Regarding the Crisis Situation in the Republic of Bulgaria


Dear President Barroso,
Dear Members of the European Commission,

On the 23rd of September 2011 a 19-year-old boy of Bulgarian ethnicity was murdered in a car accident by a man of Roma origin in the village of Katunitsa, Bulgaria. The accident provoked massive protests of ethnic Bulgarians, culminating Saturday night into burning houses by football hooligans in the presence of Bulgarian Gendarmerie forces who did not intervene. The Secretary General of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, Kalin Georgiev, explained to the media that they have decided do not intervene because protection of human life is more important than the protection of property. However, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov made a public statement on September 25, admitting that Police forces lost control over the situation in the village of Katunitsa.

The criminal accident was used in the ongoing Presidential and Local Election campaign by the candidates of VMRO and ATAKA political parties for provoking racially motivated violence against the Roma minority across Bulgaria. On 24, 25, 26 and 27 September protest rallies were organized by VMRO and ATAKA parties, together with football fan clubs, Neo-Nazi groups and rockers gangs in the cities of Plovdiv, Varna, Bourgas, Sofia, Ruse, Pazardjik, Stara Zagora, Montana which resulted in attempts for violent attacks in the Roma neighbourhoods. The Roma inhabitants responded by arming themselves to organize resistance groups for protection of their families and homes.

Due to the inadequate reaction of the Bulgarian government, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov summoned an emergency meeting of the Consultative National Security Council over escalating ethnic tension, scheduled for the 1st of October.

Meanwhile, Bulgarian Prosecutor General, Boris Velchev, issued a controversial instruction to all his subordinate prosecutors, ordering them to treat cases of ethnic hate with the necessary care. This instruction proves that hate crimes against ethnic minorities have not been properly investigated by Bulgarian prosecutors up to present, despite existence of special provisions targeting this type of crimes in the Bulgarian Penal Code.

Today, our Prime Minister Mr Borissov said: “Whoever wants to ruin, let’s ruin, I build roads of 40 kilometers every day”. His deputy Prime Minister declared that he will not stop his leave (as minister of interior) in which he is now so that he runs the political campaign of ruling party GERB nevertheless of the escalation of tension in the country.

There is no statistics on the exact number of Roma men, women and children who have been attacked during the last days in Bulgaria, amongst the injured there is even a pregnant woman who was attacked in the city of Burgas. Many of the victims are afraid to inform the local police and media. In addition, more than 100 ethnic Bulgarians were arrested by the police in a number of Bulgarian cities during the riots.

Taking into consideration the inability of the Bulgarian government to tackle the growing ethnic tension in the country, the unprecedented cases of open hate speech in the mainstream media, the complicated political situation due to the forthcoming elections on the 23rd of October,

- We demand that European Parliament call an urgent hearing of the Bulgarian Prime Minister about the plan of the government for overcoming the existing interethnic crisis in the Republic of Bulgaria,

- We demand that the EU Court of Auditors start an audit of all PHARE and Structural funds distributed by the Bulgarian governments for Roma integration in Bulgaria in the period from 2001 to 2011. If during the audit the Auditors find fraud cases they could initiate an OLAF audit.

- We demand that European Commission stop allocation of funds to the Government of Bulgaria in relation to the Roma inclusion until the implementation of the following conditions:

Results from the EU Court of Auditors/OLAFs audit with clear recommendation to the Government;
Adoption of a Strategy with specific responsibilities for the Government and clear indicators, terms, goals and spending parameters;
Establishment of a special EU Monitoring and Evaluation Fund for direct funding of watchdog organizations in the Member States (not through the Governments) aiming at setting up an independent monitoring mechanism for the implementation of the Governmental strategies for Roma inclusion.

Fast measures are needed so the crisis will not get deeper and unavoidable.

Civil Society in Action

Asen Radev – political scientist
Emiliya Dancheva – journalist
Orhan Tahir – lawyer
Petrana Puncheva – expert on the Balkans
Toshka Kocheva – psychologist

For contact:

Orhan Tahir
Mobile: +359 897 977471
orhan_tahir@yahoo.com

Civil Society in Action is the first Roma think tank in Bulgaria including experts in various proffesional fields. The association was established on 24 September 2011 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Link: http://www.romabuzzmonitor.net/2011/09/civil-society-in-action-statement-regarding-the-crisis-situation-in-the-republic-of-bulgaria/