/ world today news/ Yordanka Fandakova does not have the capacity to cope if the ethnic conflict in Sofia grows. This is what Milka Hristova, the chairman of the BSP in the Metropolitan Municipal Council, told BGNES.
However, Hristova is convinced that the capital’s mayor has the levers and resources to quell the problems and eliminate some of them, including opening jobs suitable for Roma, paying attention to education, infrastructure and healthcare. “The Metropolitan Municipality (MS) has the opportunity to solve some problems related to the Roma, but it does not do it. Such is the uncontrolled settlement with migrants from other parts of the country. The duty of the MS is to bring order regarding the accommodation of the Roma, the illegal buildings , which they build overnight, the existing or not existing infrastructure, lighting, security, health care, care for the children of these people,” said Milka Hristova.
“The problem in Orlandovtsi started for a trivial reason – a conflict between youth groups from the Bulgarian and Roma population. This is only the apparent reason. There are deep and objective reasons for which the conversation in our society has yet to begin. Some of them are – absence at all of state policy towards the Roma community, the presence of unemployment, hunger and misery among the Roma population, accompanied by the incompetence of the state and municipal bodies. A failure of the integration model, as far as we have had it,” the municipal councilor summarized.
She warns that the Ministry of Education does not have any information on how many people live in the Roma neighborhoods, nor what kind of children live there, whether they go to school and whether health care is provided for them. According to her, only now has the municipality become active and is installing cameras, with which to possibly provide greater security for these areas. “Once again we are faced with the situation of acting when the fire starts and we are looking for a fire extinguisher. Once again it is clear that prevention is lacking and actions are taken that temporarily solve the problem, but do not lead to its eradication. The conflict is social and at its core it is the unemployment, the lack of education and the carelessness of this population,” says Hristova.
She is convinced that the SO owes the Roma in terms of the infrastructures in these neighborhoods, the lack of plumbing and normal human conditions, the scope of children in the education system. And yet, no attempt is made to delve deeply into the problem. “These are people left to their own devices. We turn their purely human drama into a reason, and the reason is not only in them,” concluded the BSP municipal councilor.
Hristova expressed the opinion that such conflicts, as a rule, happen on the eve of elections. Therefore, by itself, the unflattering conclusion is forced that they are entirely ethnic conflict, and directly or indirectly bring political benefits to some parties. Perhaps some parties are ready to blow up the powder keg of ethnic conflicts for fleeting political gains, she suggested.
Hristova is convinced that in the end, the conflict in “Orlandovtsi” spoiled the image of the capital as a very orderly, modern, shiny and sustainably developing city. According to the municipal councilor, the management of the municipality does not conduct a meaningful dialogue with the Roma population of Sofia, and if it does, it is accidental. “They are left with the impression of impunity, but it is the duty of the municipality to prepare detailed development plans, which are missing,” Hristova pointed out and specified that even if the Roma wanted to build legally, there is no way because there are no separate plots there.
Bringing the gendarmerie and police into a social problem is not a solution, according to Milka Hristova. According to her, the solution to the ethnic conflict and the prevention of such in the future, is to develop a large-scale comprehensive integration model with a national consensus that this model will be respected, regardless of which of the parties is in power. Otherwise, we are condemning the country to future similar conflicts, Hristova concluded.
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