TO
MR. SERGEY STANISHEV
PRIME MINISTER OF
THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA
CC:
MR. GEORGI PARVANOV,
PRESIDENT OF
THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA
CC:
MR. GEORGI PIRINSKI
CHAIRMAN OF THE BULGARIAN
PARLIAMENT
We, the undersigned Roma NGOs and associations, politically independent and actively
working on behalf of the Roma community interests from all over the country, express our
emphatic disagreement and protest against the rude political pressure from the institutions
of the executive power on the independent Roma organizations and the consistent
attempts to limit the access of the Roma organizations to the decision-making process
regarding Roma integration in Bulgaria! We believe that this completely isolates the Roma
community from the integration process which dooms the later to failure; moreover, this is
intolerable from a moral point of view and from the perspective of the obligations of the
Bulgarian state undertaken by signing a number of national and international documents. We
believe that this endangers the independency and the existence of the civil society in
general which is intolerable for a democratic country.
Our deep disagreement and protest are based on the activities of the National council for
cooperation on ethnic and demographic issues, the Ethnic and demographic issues directorate
at the Council of Ministers, and other institutions of the executive power. Such activities are:
o Denying Roma NGOs access to the process of elaboration of the new version of the
Framework program for equal integration of Roma into Bulgarian society;
o Taking important decisions on behalf of the National council for cooperation on ethnic
and demographic issues solely by its political presiding body without any consultations with
the non-governmental organizations members of the NCCEDI;
o Rejecting the Roma experts nominated as observers in the Human Resource
Development Monitoring Committee by a broad coalition of independent Roma organizations
and an attempt of a governmental structure as the National council for cooperation on ethnic
and demographic issues to present itself as a representative body of the Roma civil society;
o Sending a letter with untruly content by the administration serving the National
Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues to the Ministry of Labor and
Social Policy regarding a decision of the Roma organizations members of the Council.
A list of concrete examples illustrating all these activities is attached.
BEING DEEPLY CONVINCED THAT:
o the independence of the civil society is one of the major pillars of each democratic
political system and political pressure on the independent non-governmental organizations is
a menace to democracy in general;
o the Roma integration in Bulgaria is impossible without the active participation of
Roma themselves, as well as broad layers of society in general;
o the Bulgarian government not only abides by, but defends the principles of
democratic government including the principle for guaranteeing civil participation and
protecting the independence of the civil organizations;
o the Bulgarian government has been sincere in its dedication to work for the equal
integration of Roma in Bulgaria
WE INSIST ON:
1. the immediate providing of broader participation of the Roma community and all interested
actors in Bulgarian society in the Framework program elaboration process!
We insist on the immediate establishment of working groups with the participation of Roma
experts and experts from the broad civil society to elaborate the document; we insist on
organizing regional discussions with Roma organizations (and other NGOs) from the six
planning regions and taking into account their suggestions in elaborating the first draft of the
program.
We insist also that the Council of Ministers and the Bulgarian parliament do not adopt the
new version of the Framework program for equal integration of Roma into Bulgarian society
if it is not elaborated with the active participation of the Roma community and broader civil
participation through the model provided above. (The latter has been approved at a meeting of
the Roma Integration Committee on May 23, 2007 but up to now it has not been implemented
by the Ethnic and Demographic Issues Directorate)
2. Fundamental changes in the structure of the National council for cooperation on ethnic and
demographic issues in order to guarantee the real participation of the non-governmental
organizations in it and that no political pressure is put on the civil society. An immediate
broad public discussion to systemize and propose the concepts of the civil society regarding
the future and the format of this body is needed; it is necessary to clarify the present situation
with the position of the “deputy chairman of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic
and Demographic Issues’ elected by the NGOs and elaborate a job description for this
position which would turn it into a real mechanism for protecting the interests of the civil
society;
3. Unconditional accepting of the experts nominated by the independent Roma organizations
as observers in the Human Resource Development Operational program Monitoring
committee and the other committees where it still has not been done according to art.8 (10) of
Decree of the Council of Ministers no. 182/21.07.2006; including also other experts with
proven skills and capacity elected by civil coalitions;
4. Establishing and guaranteeing mechanisms for broad participation of the Roma community,
independent Roma organizations and the civil society in general in the formulation,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies for Roma integration in Bulgaria!
We expect your answer to the above proposals at the following addresses:
Veliko Turnovo 5000
p.o.box 113
Center “Amalipe”
Razgrad 7200
Osam Str. 4
Integro Association