GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Impoverished Gypsies planning mass exodus to England as EU expands?

Mr.Fiction · 02-15-2004, 11:08 PM

As an ethnic Roma, Baco says he has no chance of a good life in Slovakia, where negative stereotypes that brand Gypsies as thieving bums have poisoned the country's psyche against an estimated half a million of its citizens like him.

So the 36-year-old father of four plans to get out.

"I'm going to England in May when we join the (European) Union," he said from the cluster of tumbledown shacks where he lives in central Slovakia, 230 miles from Bratislava.

Under the current system, an immigrant in Britain can get unemployment, housing and other benefits such as free health care and schools for children if he proves he is at least looking for work and has come to England for good reasons.

Roma leaders say the Czech and Slovak governments are doing too little to remedy the desperate living conditions for the estimated 700,000 to 800,000 Roma in their countries. This may prompt thousands to move west.

Unemployment is nearly 100 percent in many settlements across the region, and state supported incomes are low. In Slovakia, for example, a family of four on welfare gets around $125 monthly, not nearly enough for someone to save for the several months in England that are now necessary for benefits to kick in.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ration_roma_dc

Anyone in England have an opinion on this?

02-15-2004, 11:08 PM
Mr.Fiction Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Free Speech Land Posts: 9,484	Impoverished Gypsies planning mass exodus to England as EU expands? As an ethnic Roma, Baco says he has no chance of a good life in Slovakia, where negative stereotypes that brand Gypsies as thieving bums have poisoned the country's psyche against an estimated half a million of its citizens like him. So the 36-year-old father of four plans to get out. "I'm going to England in May when we join the (European) Union," he said from the cluster of tumbledown shacks where he lives in central Slovakia, 230 miles from Bratislava. Under the current system, an immigrant in Britain can get unemployment, housing and other benefits such as free health care and schools for children if he proves he is at least looking for work and has come to England for good reasons. Roma leaders say the Czech and Slovak governments are doing too little to remedy the desperate living conditions for the estimated 700,000 to 800,000 Roma in their countries. This may prompt thousands to move west. Unemployment is nearly 100 percent in many settlements across the region, and state supported incomes are low. In Slovakia, for example, a family of four on welfare gets around $125 monthly, not nearly enough for someone to save for the several months in England that are now necessary for benefits to kick in. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ration_roma_dc Anyone in England have an opinion on this? __________________ Don't be lazy, protect free speech: ACLU \| Free Speech Coalition \| EFF \| IMPA