VZCZCXRO4414
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSL #0363/01 2291512
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171512Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0113
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHSL/AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA 0145

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000363 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CE J. MOORE; PLEASE PASS HELSINKI COMMISSION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV LO
SUBJECT: DOES THE ROMA PLENIPOTENTIARY HELP OR HURT THE ROMA? 
 
REF: BRATISLAVA 257 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000363  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. Summary: According to some Roma activists, the government's 
Roma Plenipotentiary is the only government post in Slovakia 
that pays attention to the Roma issue.  However, many of them 
believe that since the post's competencies have been reduced and 
diluted over time, it is now mostly a figurehead and should not 
be refilled.  The last Plenipotentiary, Anina Botosova, resigned 
in June 2009 (reftel), and the office has remained vacant since 
then.  Deputy Prime Minister Caplovic has said that he will 
appoint a new Plenipotentiary in mid-August, and recent public 
debate has focused on whether a Plenipotentiary actually 
furthers the advancement and integration of the Roma, or merely 
provides a scapegoat for the government's failing performance. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. After Caplovic's assumption of the duties of DPM for Human 
Rights, National Minorities, and a Knowledge-Based Society in 
2006, he recalled then-Plenipotentiary Klara Orgovanova 
allegedly for her pro-Dzurinda policies and lack of loyalty to 
the new government.  She was replaced in 2007 by Anina Botosova, 
a former Ministry of Labor employee and daughter of 
well-respected Roma musician Berky Mrenica.  Several NGO leaders 
speculated that Botosova was too weak to manage such an office 
and control the approximately 200 million Euros in EU structural 
funds that were earmarked by the GOS for the "horizontal 
priority" of Roma community development.  Approximately one year 
into Botosova's term, Caplovic changed the status of her post, 
and appointed two new directors.  One of these oversees the 
coordination of the EU money with the relevant GOS Ministries, 
and the other manages the Plenipotentiary's office.  Botosova 
resigned in June 2009 due to Caplovic's pressure and her 
realization that her position had become a formal one deprived 
of any real competencies. 
 
¶3. Recently, DPM Caplovic stated that he wanted to find a 
"strong man" to be his new Roma Plenipotentiary.  Media and NGOs 
currently speculate that Tibor Loran, the only ethnic Roma 
university professor in Slovakia, may be appointed to the post. 
Several Roma organizations have protested against his 
nomination, claiming that he already failed in other posts 
dealing with Roma (for example, as the city manager of Lunik IX, 
the infamous Roma block of apartments in Kosice.) Among the most 
outspoken Loran critics are the Roma Initiative of Slovakia 
(RIS) Chairman, Alexander Patkolo, and Ladislav Richter, both of 
whom are seen to be governing party Smer loyalists. 
 
¶4. In a survey conducted by the Roma-focused newspaper, Romano 
lil Nevo, Roma leaders and activists were asked whether they 
support preserving the Plenipotentiary post or would prefer to 
abolish it.  The majority of them opined that the post should be 
abolished unless the government supplies the office with more 
competencies, funds, and decision-making authority.  Of the 
fourteen Roma leaders interviewed, eight believe that the post 
of Plenipotentiary in its current status should be closed and 
that some of its competencies should be moved to Caplovic's 
office.  Anna Koptova, the director of the Romani Gymnazium 
(high school) in Kosice and former deputy to the Federal 
Czechoslovak Parliament, said that "a plenipotentiary without 
any money and competencies is only a figure on a chess board." 
Former Plenipotentiary from 2001-2007, Klara Orgovanova, said 
the office in its current form should be discontinued and that 
"the state administration bodies and those of the local 
government should follow up the already-implemented policies in 
a more systematic and consistent way." 
 
¶5. On August 13, Orgovanova told us that she thinks Caplovic is 
playing a game and that she does not expect Loran to be the next 
plenipotentiary.  In her view, Caplovic is waiting to hear more 
names from Roma leaders and appoint the one who would be the 
most loyal and least confrontational.  While Caplovic has 
publicly stated he will appoint a new Plenipotentiary in 
September at the latest (though the press speculates it might be 
this week), some of our Roma contacts believe that Caplovic is 
stalling in the hope that more Roma leaders will request to 
close the office, which he would prefer to do.  Such a move 
would place EU funds and the employees managing them under his 
direct control. 
 
¶6. Comment: We understand why many activists believe the 
Plenipotentiary post should be abolished.  The post is saddled 
with the responsibility of being the only national-level 
political representative of the incredibly fractious Roma 
community, yet it has very limited authority to implement 
projects to improve the Roma community's situation and has to 
serve as a yes-man to Caplovic.  While Botosova was at the helm, 
the only accomplishments we observed were the standardization of 
the Romani language and the opening of the National Museum of 
Roma Culture.  Both have some long-term cultural value but 
neither advances the day-to-day conditions of the Roma 
community.  Moreover, none of the "horizontal priority" EU 
structural funds for 2007-2013 were allocated or spent on 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000363  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
education, housing, health, or employment by the office and 
relevant ministries, and now there is growing public sentiment 
amongst the Slovak majority population to prevent the earmarking 
of these EU funds in response to the perceived increase in Roma 
criminality in Slovakia.  However, if the GOS were to abolish 
the post, Caplovic himself would be under more intense public 
scrutiny and would have to shoulder the blame for what many view 
as a deteriorating Roma situation in Slovakia.  Instead, we 
anticipate Caplovic will find a relatively benign figurehead who 
will maintain the appearance of moving forward, but only within 
the parameters which the government allows.  End comment. 
EDDINS