The beginnings in politics
My first moves in politics were written
somewhere in the year when Janko Kompuš died.
Just two months before his death.
We met at Ing. Patkaň in Bardejov,
where I heard about Roma politics for the first time.
I can't estimate it today, but the debate
took about two hours.
Janko Kompuš came there and we discussed.
Ing. Patkaň was in permanent contact with Janko Kompuš.
And he is also the founder of the Roma Citizen Initiative (ROI).
They had already discussed everything.
And the question, I was asked there, was
how could I help them.
As I was an entrepreneur,
I promised them some things.
Janko Kompuš drove an old Škoda 100
and he also needed to change the winter tires to summer ones.
So I promised him to do it.
And I even told him that I would give him
some of my company vehicles for using.
The first meeting that I financed
was some conference somewhere in Spiš.
There I organized the refreshments and these things.
But I didn't take part in it.
And the second turning point when I encountered politics was
when Janko Kompuš died.
I wasn't in close contact with him.
But then, after his death, I began to perceive more
what kind of visions this man actually had towards the Roma.
How he presented himself in the public and among Roma.
And what everything he wanted.
And I got into politics through Gejza Adama, who pulled me in.
Again with the same conditions,
that I will finance the party as an entrepreneur.
Because money makes wonders in politics.
Each political party has to declare how much the elections cost, etc.
How much was spent, what was the budget, etc.
When compared with the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH),
so they spent some 900 thousand.
And we spent over three million.
And where were they?
- How many percent did they have? - 6.3 percent of the votes.
And we got 0.39 percent of the votes.
So my next vision in politics became unrealistic.
And I finished with Romani politics, it's been 20 years to this day.
Leadership, conflict, unity
Gejza Adam became the chairman of ROI after the death of Janko Kompuš.
And then a large part of that awakening and all that happening,
how to progress, how to break through in the social field,
what all we have to do, how to get into the program,
the new ROI program and so on, that's what I was involved in.
Until certain discrepancies
with Gejza Adam did not arise between us
I saw a dictator in him.
And he did fundamental things at a certain stage
of the starting of those social solutions and everything,
where I spent considerable funds,
so he kicked me out of the party.
And I couldn't bear this.
It lasted about a fortnight, I called a meeting
and I took over the Roma Citizen Initiative (ROI).
But it was just before the elections.
And there was no time
to change the whole ROI philosophy.
And at that time I was putting together the unification of Roma in ROI.
All political parties.
That was the cause of our disagreements,
because Gejza Adam broke it all in the end.
Not just him, but also Mr. Fízik and Mr. Patkoló had a part in it.
They were such main actors.
And then other political small parties,
which signed that memorandum of unification and finally they broke it themselves.
And then I dragged that ROI up to the election.
Until the election passed.
We gained 0.39 percent of the votes in the elections.
And since I was a person who more or less worked in business,
I simply gave up on the politics.
And I submitted it to the next congress,
for Mr. Červeňák to manage it.
At that time, a new law was created for the re-registration of the party.
But the party was not re-registered.
And by law it disappeared.
Perspective of cooperation with majority parties.
At the time when I was the chairman of the ROI political party,
we had developed certain ideological theses with the party SMER-SD.
But somehow a closer merger,
or the grouping of those ideals or visions never happened.
Those were just attempts,
how to influence the Romani voter base.
That was the whole philosophy and then no action.
So I never followed that philosophy,
simply said, from that perspective.
Because there was no perspective.
The Roma must, whether we like it or not,
to get into parliament by their own efforts.
And so that no one gets into parliament on the backs of Roma.
this is my message to all Roma in Slovakia,
who want to participate in some way in moving us forward.
In that backwardness.
There is no other way.
Romani political scene
The Romani political scene is, compared to the majority,
completely somewhere a hundred years ago.
The Romani political scene can never unite.
And even if some Romani political party is formed,
which will have a sufficient number of votes,
we don't know how to cooperate with the political scene from the majority,
which dictates what and how.
Now let's just take the case of OĽANO
and deputies for the Roma, who are three in the parliament.
What agreement was formed between the party of Gejza Adama and OĽANO?
At what contract level
from the point of view of solving the Romani issue?
I think none,
none, these Roma got into the parliament without any visions.
And they actually don't know what to grab, which thread.
What to talk about in the parliament.
The parliament is primarily about changing laws and legislation.
But when we don't know how to prepare concrete law, how to change it,
then what we want to do in that politics, in that parliament.
And this must be agreed in advance.
There is no excluded the cooperation
of Romani leaders and leaders from the majority.
But the important thing is at what level is it?
And when certain demands are made,
whether OĽANO, for example, would agree to such a solution.
And that's the problem.
Because the other political parties from the majority
express themselves in such a way that if we were to approach that solution,
which needs to be done for those Roma,
then we would lose our votes.
And let's face it, we need to inject money into the Roma.
And let's just say that the society is nationalistic.
And one goes into politics for money, above all.
There is a battle over the state budget, what money will be used for and where.
Well, we are here at home, why isn't the Romani problem being solved?
Because money need to be injected into the Roma.
Roma have no chance to get out of that misery
without state aid.
And when it is said that they receive social benefits,
but that they don't pay taxes and so on.
And this is spread throughout the republic.
Let's notice in the media and where,
where those nationalist passions rise
and gain the strength.
Who will stop it, I'm asking.
Rivalry vs. cooperation
If we want to develop this debate,
we would have to know the Romani mentality.
There are so many rivals
who want to get into the leadership of a party
so that their name becomes important.
Everyone wants to be just the chairman.
And that's how Roma parties were founded.
And at the time when we were candidates, I guess in 2001,
among others, there were up to seventeen Romani political parties.
Can you imagine the enlightenment
which should be implemented then,
for the Roma to get into the parliament?
Furthermore, the integrity of that national minority
is scattered all over Slovakia.
It's not in one place.
And now the intellectual knowledge
of those Roma is at a very low level.
It is a very difficult debate
with individual leaders.
Not only with leaders in politics,
but also at the level of municipal offices, representatives, deputies.
There is such a sick rivalry,
I call it "Romani cancer".
which will be very, very difficult to treat in the future.
The illiteracy here is huge.
Everyone knows that there is money in politics.
But that was taken from the majority.
Because in the majority, many people push to be deputies
to get rich quick in politics.
We could talk about it, we could write about it.
And discuss the people since 1989,
who appeared in the Slovak parliament, how they got rich.
It is a chapter in itself.
And Roma and Romani politics
copies the Slovak political scene.
Minority politics
It isn't simply possible to compare the Roma with the Hungarian national minority.
They live and are grouped in a certain territory,
which once belonged to Great Hungary.
And they behave this way,
they feel it
and that's why they want dual citizenship and things like that.
But here it must be clearly said that we, the Roma political scene,
cannot follow this example.
We cannot do the same style of politics as the Hungarians do.
We are not Hungarians.
We don't have our own territory, we are Slovaks.
Only then Roma, we are first and foremost Slovaks.
And we are not interested in our territory.
We want to integrate
to the country of Slovakia, to the state, to the state institution.
As for the population census,
I, personally, put my financial resources into that process.
Around 450 thousand crowns at that time.
To the enlightenment.
I let my buses running to spread awareness.
And to my astonishment, it declared itself a national minority
somewhere around the 85-90 thousand Roma.
What is terribly little.
And here the belonging to Slovakia was shown.
Not that the Roma were afraid or anything, but to admit that I am a Roma
has no justification, because the color of the skin betrays us.
And de facto we are "umbilically" historically connected with Slovakia.
And it took me a while to understand it too.
And unfortunately I can't change this.
We cannot say to a Roma: declare that you are a Roma.
And go hard on him.
No, Slovak society has to get used to the fact that we are here too.
With a different skin color.
Unfortunately, but it is true.
And it must correct its mistakes.
And to call back the Roma from the Romani settlement,
marginalized groups, back to the center of village.
It cannot be done without it.
To the inner space of the village.
They take taxes on the Roma.
We have been violating the constitution for several decades.
Also human rights.
And where are children's rights and other issues?
After all, Slovakia has signed those international conventions.
Demanding the truth by turning to the European institutions,
to the European Court, etc., has become a normal matter in Slovakia.
Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma communities
The office of the plenipotentiary of the government was established in accordance with the constitution
and legislatively anchored within Slovakia.
And why it isn't fulfilling its role, or why it doesn't have its own chapter
at the ministerial level, we could talk about it a lot.
But the results and efficiency of that office
confirm to me that it must be abolished.
And a different concept should be proposed.
For example, I proposed the Roma House.
The Roma House would be connected to the state budget with its chapter.
It cannot be done without it.
The Hungarians have it, the Slovaks have it, they have their Slovak Matica.
And we have nothing, what do we want to build on?
Social responsibility of the Roma
We, as the whole society, should take note of these facts.
And accept very quickly, but very quickly,
an effective steps within Slovakia, throughout society.
Because, when the Roma get into the Slovak parliament,
when they get there, they will not only make decisions about the Roma, but about the whole society.
With their bills.
And they also have to deal with these things.
And here are defects in the social field that no one is solving.
A Roma is the same citizen as a citizen from the majority.
they don't differ in anything.
Slovak society doesn't it need to deal with it in some way?
Roma East Party
I got involved in a certain vision, the Roma East Party was created.
But at our meetings, we want to discuss everything at once.
Everyone feels touched by that life,
that injustice, etc. and I try to bring order to it.
Currently at this level.
The true is, it will take a while but the question is whether I will succeed at all.
Because there are all various opinions.
I will take on the role of leader anywhere under no circumstances.
I am old enough.
But I want to participate in the advisory area.
And whether such personalities, who will understand me,
what needs to be done will grow up in that politics,
so that in the final phase a project is created that will be launched,
and we will move forward as a whole, it will take a while.
Philosophically, we base it on the number of Roma where they live.
And the East Slovak Region has about 85% of all Roma in Slovakia.
It is logical that it will happen first in eastern Slovakia.
But nowhere is it written that we won't deal with other regions,
where the Roma live and they will need the help of that party.
Everything just takes time.
And whether do I see it optimistically? Without the youth nothing can be done.
We know this fact also on the Slovak political scene.
Even among the Roma, and among the Hungarians, everywhere.
Young people must get,
we have to enable them to get to the top, and entrust them with management.
It must be on a certain intellectual and knowledge level.
As to the intellectual aspect, Slovakia already lives at a very high level.
However, the same cannot be said about the Roma.
The educational level is very low.
Even if we consider how many university students we have among the Roma,
so two thirds of the total number have completed social schools.
And I lack that technical intelligence,
which will come to the fore.
And we have to create the conditions for that to happen.
To have designers.
Engineers, judges, police officers, everything.
We just need to get there.
Also to this sphere.
Can I let some Roma design a bridge today?
Imagine that barrier between me and them.
I was able to make tankers, naval ships.
I am a producer.
Ships for passengers that still go to sea today.
And I wasn't afraid to tackle these things.
I made the wastewater treatment plant technology for the whole of Košice.
I am looking for an equal partner in the field of knowledge.
I can't find.
I can't find a person among the Roma,
which would understand the state budget.
Its creation, consumption.
Roma, who could communicate in that political area
at the ministry level and the like.
It is a very difficult process.
My family
I come from a family where my uncle was
the very first post-war teacher in the district of Spišská Nová Ves.
And where I did not know the problems of the Roma.
I didn't grow up that way.
We had one family house.
The same as the whites and others in the village have.
One family house of Roma.
I don't know what racism is, I didn't know that.
I didn't know discrimination.
I had to struggle everywhere since primary school.
Even if my skin color gives me away.
But I could swallow something, somewhere people are right, somewhere they are wrong.
But, not to have bad conscience,
we had to realize
where is the bringing up the children.
Not only among the Roma, but especially in the majority.
Because young children are already taught that, I mean, I went by the tram
and heard the young mother telling to her child:
"Watch out, because the Roma will steal you."
"That Gypsy will steal you."
And I have experienced this myself several times.
This is not possible.
And only thanks to my intelligence
I did not intervene in other way.
And then we wonder why problems
between the police, between the majority arise.
Because not everyone let jump on their head.
One for all...
If I were to finance the Roma political scene again,
I wouldn't do it again.
For a simple reason.
Because I know the sociological distribution
of the Romani community in Slovakia.
And I already know Roma mentality enough,
becasue I had no idea before.
Unless we can change the Roma mentality,
unless we know how to do one for all
and all for one,
so the Romani policy is not successful.
This is wasted money in politics.
Something else has to happen here, at another level of unification.
And it is simply not possible without an educational level.