Roma
Prague accuses France of racism
30 August 2010
Presseurop
Lidové noviny 
Lidové noviny , 28 August 2010
On the front page of Saturday’s Lidove Noviny, Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg condemns the French government’s Roma “repatriation” crusade. “One can’t help thinking racist standpoints are being catered for here,” he comments. He also deplores the fact that his country is not invited to the immigration summit in Paris on 6 September. Paradoxically, the newspaper notes, the Czech Republic happens to be presiding till 2011 over the Decade of Roma Inclusion initiative involving the “newcomers” to the EU (Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria). The latter, likewise passed over for the Paris summit, will be meeting in late September in Prague.
As Greece pimps its ancient monuments to bring in the tourists, lovers of cultural heritage are up in arms. But the country is only doing openly what the whole of Europe is: looting historic sites to drum up more ready cash. 
Asserting national values is central to the political project of the Hungarian PM. Since the start of the year, fifteen paintings, specially commissioned for an exhibition in the Castle of Buda, have been putting this ambition on show. 
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