Mayors want urgent govt action regarding the Roma

The shooting in the Roma village of Šmihel shows that "the Roma pose the greatest threat to themselves" and that "claims that this is about intolerance of the majority population against the Roma are not true," Novo Mesto Mayor Gregor Macedoni said on Monday.

"We need to see things for what they really are. A few field visits by government representatives trying to calm the situation is not enough to address an issue that has much deeper roots," he said.

The weekend shooting came after weeks of headlines about the Roma community prompted by an attack this summer on police officers who wanted to arrest a driver who refused to stop his vehicle, and a violent attack by a Roma student on his peer in Brežice at the end of last school year.

The incidents brought to the fore long-simmering tensions and turned the tables on the narrative: the plight of the Roma community, mostly living in squalid conditions, used to be in the foreground, but now the focus has shifted on problems within Roma communities, especially crime and the refusal of the Roma to send their children to school.

Gregor Košir, the deputy mayor of Kočevje, said local communities would do their job when it comes to resolving problems faced by the Roma and would pressure the communities to send children to school, but added that "the security situation needs to be sorted out first".

Košir thinks legislative changes are urgently needed and called on the justice and interior ministries to fast-track bills. He also called for a national debate on "whether welfare is really untouchable for those who break the law" and changes expanding police powers.

Similar points were raised by Črnomelj Mayor Andrej Kavšek and Brežice Mayor Ivan Molan, the latter adding that government officials should "do their job or resign" since their inaction is bad for everyone, in particular the Roma who are trying to obey the law.

"We've come to the point where locals are afraid of the Roma, including those who come with good intentions. This does not help the Roma community, it hurts it. I hope people in parliament who are still burying their head in the sand realise that at some point," said Molan.

The problems have been discussed in parliament in recent weeks and government officials have been visiting local communities in south Slovenia pledging to take action. So far, most of the pledges have revolved around ways to improve the security situation.