Deputy PM: Government is preparing incentive scheme for firms to employ Roma

Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development Minister Jiri Cunek says the government is preparing an incentive scheme for firms who set up their business in the vicinity of impoverished Roma ghettos. Mr Cunek told journalists in the east Moravian town of Frydek-Mistek that businesses would receive state grants under the scheme if they employed Roma and other residents of socially deprived areas. The Christian Democrat leader added that he was currently working on details of the scheme. Mr Cunek had previously come under fire for comments he made about the Roma minority during an interview with a tabloid newspaper in which he said that in order to be entitled to state subsidies like Romanies, other people would need to get a suntan, behave in a disorderly way and light fires on town squares before politicians would regard them as badly off.