Czech Embassy in London rejects report of "Roma siege"
The Czech paper Mlada Fronta Dnes on Thursday carried a dramatic headline that seemed to confirm British fears of an influx of penniless Czech Roma after the Czech Republic joined the EU. The headline read "Embassy under Roma Siege" and the article reports on Czech citizens - apparently mainly Roma - who had failed to find a job in Britain and had no money to get back home, and were now demanding help from the Czech Embassy in London. However, when Radio Prague spoke with David Frous from the Czech Embassy in London, we learned that the situation was far less alarming than the Czech daily had suggested.
"The Czech Embassy is in no way 'besieged' by Czech citizens asking for help at the moment - that is not the fact. What I can say is that we have noticed a rise in the number of applications by Czech citizens asking for help. They were saying they were in need in getting back to the Czech Republic. The rise in the last week has been 30 such requests compared to 14 in the whole month of April."
There has been considerable focus on the fact that many of the Czech citizens are of Roma ethnicity. Before May 1st the Roma were able to apply for asylum in Great Britain and as such had certain benefits while their files were processed. Has the Czech embassy looked at this development, that after Czech accession there could be a higher number of Roma applying for jobs but who would suddenly find themselves in trouble now unable to rely on a "safety net"?
"Well, we've been looking into this matter for a certain period of time, mainly the question of 'liasoning' between the former asylum seekers and the British side, because the asylum applicants' state has changed. At the moment there are some former applicants in the UK now asking the Czech Republic for help, for travel documents and for their travel documents to be renewed, and they usually find relatives and friends to help them get back to the Czech Republic."
"Such situations in which someone has no money family at all are very, very rare. As I've said we do what we can to help these people get in touch with friends or family to help them get back to the Czech Republic. What is important I think is that any Czech citizen travelling abroad should be aware that a certain point they may want to return to their homeland - and should be able to back his or her self with financial means to cover the journey. A responsible person would think not just about leaving but also about what they would need if they needed to get back."
