06.04.2008Deyan Kolev was elected a Deputy-Chair of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues
Deyan Kolev was elected a Deputy-Chair of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues from the quota of the non-governmental organizations. This happened at the regular meeting of the Council which took place on April 4th and was preceded by a meeting of the Roma Integration Committee at the Council. In both meetings Deyan Kolev received the highest number of votes followed by Mladen Ivanov (Gypsy Europe), Peter Georgiev (Confederation of Roma "
In his program Deyan Kolev appealed for significant changes in the work of the National Council that would guarantee the real participation of the non-governmental organizations in the decision-making process, for improving the work of the Council and making it more operational and more active in participating in the policy making process concerning minorities. He insisted that the position of the NGO Deputy-Chair of the Council should be preserved non-political and should not be used for political, business or other ambitions.
“My election is a success for the non-governmental organizations who have defended the cause of the active and independent civic participation during the last year. It is an indicator for a serious change among Roma NGOs and in the civil society in general.” – Deyan Kolev shared. He thanked the other candidates for the inspiring competition and declared his will for mutual cooperation.
The Deputy-Chair from the quota of the non-governmental organizations is elected from the NGOs members of the Council. In 2007 this position was won by Emil Kalo (“Shalom” organization). The responsibilities of the Deputy-Chair are only mentioned in the regulations of the NCCEDI. They will be regulated in details in an order by the Chair of the Council Vice-Minister Emel Etem. According to the order the NGO Deputy-Chair will participate in the elaboration of the new version of the Framework program for equal integration of Roma, in the elaboration of the new regulations of the Council and so on.
