Hungary's main political parties have all put forward proposals for how to tackle problems associated with the country's poor and socially excluded Roma minority. The majority of parties recognise the imperative to create jobs, and some settle on setting up public works projects in the farm and building sectors, while others take a more integrated approach invloving making better use of the social and education systems, and helping Roma get jobs on the open market. The ruling Socialist party, in its election campaign programme, focuses on finding ways to stimulate job creation for people belonging to the Roma community with an emphasis on training and assistance with finding jobs in the market. One idea is to enable a mentoring system for Roma start-ups. Conservative party Fidesz, which is likely to form the next government, favours public works and getting unskilled Roma to work in the farm and building industries. The party warns against eliding policies aimed at the poor and those targeting the Roma, insisting that poverty and the Roma are separate issues. The stress should lie on work allied to training, while dismantling the social barriers that are obstacles to integration, says Fidesz. Further, Government financing for fighting social exclusion must be made totally transparent, it maintains.
The conservative Democratic Forum chooses in its manifesto not to single out the Roma under a separate heading, taking the view instead that avenues of opportunity should be available for all and policies should be geared towards making long-term improvements such as to public security and fighting extremism. One idea is to create a network of schools which operate all day. Green party Politics Can Be Different sees the need for four conditions: jobs for unskilled active workers, giving special opportunities in the education system for the children of poor and uneducated parents, incorporating within the minimum-wage system guarantees for people mired in deep poverty and stimulating job creation in the public sector for the emerging Roma middle class. Radical nationalist party Jobbik has a chapter in their manifesto entitled "Vissza a ciganyutrol" which is a play on an idiom about swallowing the wrong way. The party says it regards the Roma problem as "complex" requiring a complex programme involving punishing "Gypsy crime", boosting policing and setting up genarmerie while creating public works projects and withdrawing monetary social support and replacing it with a "social card" system.
politics.hu
