Civic Democrat Members of the European Parliament Vote against European Parliament's

21 July 2005

On April 25, 2005 the European Parliament adopted the "Resolution on the Situation of Roma in the European Union" . The Resolution notes a range of concerns related to the ability of Roma in the European Union to realise fundamental human rights, and calls on a number of agencies to act without delay to correct the ongoing Roma rights crisis. The Resolution was adopted by a vote of 497 in favour, 25 against, and with 30 abstentions.

On April 29, 2005 Ceska Tiskova Kancelar (CTK), the Prague based news agency, reported that Civic Democrat (ODS) members of the European Parliament (EP) voted against the resolution condemning discrimination against Roma because it mentions the Czech Republic in its text as the only concrete example of discrimination against Roma. The EP resolution mentions the failure of the Czech Republic to adequately recognise the Romani holocaust by failing to remove a pig farm from the site of the former concentration camp at Lety u Pisku .

Additionally, according to a May 10, 2005 report by Radio Prague News, Communist Party MEP Mr Miloslav Ransdorf is reportedly being taken to court by Mr Petr Uhl, journalist and former government human rights commissioner, over Mr Ransdorf's reported comments that the Lety camp had "not actually been a concentration camp".

(CTK, Radio Prague)