Slovakia doesn't use the EU resources allocated to Roma projects efficiently, as billions of euros spent on education, employment, housing and anti-segregation projects since 2004 have failed to bring positive social and economic results, analyst Martin Halás, a member of the Government Council for Non-profit NGOs and the former Social Democracy Institute chair, warned on Tuesday.
Because of this, Halás believes that the incumbent Government should invest the EU funds into measures aimed to deliver specific and sustainable results instead.
According to him, Roma projects since 2004 have failed to translate into any improvements and, in some cases, the situation of the Roma has even taken a turn for the worse. Education is a complete flop, as, despite investments of €550 million, segregation in schools has actually worsened from 55% to 65% and the rate of school dropouts has remained at 71%. Slovakia has also wasted hundreds of millions of euros on measures to combat segregation in schools, or the separation of Roma children from other children. Halás pointed out that the only effective measures are in the areas of housing and healthcare, where access to drinking water has improved from 60% to 78% and a decrease in infant mortality has been recorded.
"It is absolutely unacceptable for us as a country to continue with strategies that are demonstrably not working and literally throw hundreds of millions of euros out the window," noted the analyst, adding that the Government must stop wasting EU funds on these projects and ask the European Commission to make changes.
Source: TASR
