News

Roma organizations – members of the Working group for preparing new Framework Program for Equal Integration of Roma in Bulgarian Society (FPEIRBS) boycotted the first session of the renewed Group composition. Deyan Kolev (Center Amalipe and Deputy Chair of NCCEDI), Nikolay Kirilov (Roma-Lom Foundation), and Stefan Panayotov (Health of Roma Foundation) did not participate in the session on January 30. Assen Kolev (Inforoma – Asenovgrad) took part in the session but expresses his disagreement with the changes in the Working group.

In Letter to the Deputy Prime-Minister and Chair of the NCCEDI Emel Etem Roma organizations expressed disagreement with certain changes in the composition of the Working group (the exclusion of most of Roma NGOs in the new Group composition, the exclusion of Baki Huyseinov and Iosif Nounev) as well as with the new deadlines for preparing the Framework program (end of April) that will make it part of the election campaign. The Roma organizations that signed the letter insist all excluded members of the Group to be incorporated again, the draft of the FPEIRBS proposed by Roma NGOs to be revised and voted in the Working group within the next two weeks and the final approval of the Program by Council of Ministers to happen as late as March. The organizations propose meeting with Deputy Prime-Minister Etem and declare that they will not take part in the work of the Working group unless certain guarantee that the process of preparing new FPEIRBS will not be politically abused are not provided.