20.10.2017The Council of Ministers proposes the establishment of a permanent Roma Integration Subcommittee to the Partnership Agreement Monitoring Committee
The Council of Ministers proposes the establishment of a permanent Roma Integration Subcommittee to the Partnership Agreement Monitoring Committee in line with one of the main arrangements negotiated at the meeting between several Roma organizations, Prime Minister Borisov and Deputy Prime Minister Donchev, that took place on 17 of July 2017.
On that date, representatives of four of the main organizations and coalitions working for Roma integration (Amalipe, Intellect, National Network of Health Mediators, and Roma Lom) had a meeting with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev, discussing the Open Letter against the appointment of Valeri Simeonov as Chair of the NCCII and the current non-effective policy-consultative framework for integration policies implementation, in support of which the civil organizations gathered over 15 000 signatures. The participants agreed on three specific immediate and medium-term measures, one of which was the creation of a sub-committee of the Partnership Agreement Monitoring Committee to coordinate the operations contributing to Roma integration, which are co-financed by the European funds and the state budget. More information about the meeting, see on http://amalipe.com/index.php?nav=news&id=3018&lang=2
The Council of Ministers proposes the Permanent Subcommittee on Roma Integration to the Partnership Agreement Monitoring Committee to be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Donchev and to include deputy ministers from the main ministries, Heads of directorates in key operational programs and representatives of NGOs. The "Central Coordination Unit" Directorate in the Administration of the Council of Ministers will be its secretariat.
At the same time, the structure proposed by the Council of Ministers does not contain some of the important elements proposed by the Roma organizations, such as to give opinions not only on operational programs but also on basic acts and regulations of the Council of Ministers.
The proposal of the Council of Ministers for a permanent "Roma Integration" Subcommittee can be found here (in Bg). Suggestions on the content of the document could be sent until 23 October 2017 to Gergana Mitreva at: g.mitreva@government.bg
