A leading Hungarian minister has come under fire after saying that since the country has “no migrants”, Roma should take over cleaning train toilets.
The words were spoken at a campaign event ahead of the April 12 election, which will put Prime Minister Viktor Orbán‘s 16-year rule to the test, with the opposition leading in independent polls.
The Roma are the largest minority in Hungary, making up about 7% of the population of 9.5 million, and are often discriminated against.
Although Orbán has proclaimed a “zero migrant” policy, the country has admitted tens of thousands of “guest workers” in recent years to make up for labor shortages.
“If there are no migrants and someone has to clean the toilets on the InterCity trains – because Hungarian voters are not burning with the desire to clean foreign shitty toilets – then the internal reserves must be used. And the internal reserve is the Hungarian Roma community,” said Minister of Construction and Transport Janos Lazar in the western city of Balatonalmadi.
Opposition leader Peter Magyar called on Lazar to “leave public life”, accusing him of having “crossed every line”.
Several Roma organizations also condemned the speech, calling it an attempt to reduce members of the minority to the lowest rung of the social hierarchy.
“It is scandalous that in every election campaign the ‘Gypsy card’ is pulled again,” said Silvia Senassi, head of the Uccu foundation, which fights against discrimination against the Roma, to the Roma Press Center website.
Bela Ratz, leader of the association 1Hungary, which deals with the politics of memory related to the Roma community, rejected the idea that the Roma constitute a “reserve”. “It is enough to look around – Roma work in construction, as entrepreneurs, intellectuals and in public employment projects”, he pointed out to the same publication and added that the minister should apologize and resign.
Lazar rejected the criticism in a post on Facebook, calling it “typical liberal moralizing”, and said that both he himself, as a former mayor, and the government had done a lot for the integration of the Roma. | BGNES
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