Czechs must change to meet accession ambitions

Date: 05/06/03

CZECHS have been told they must reduce corruption, improve their language skills and fight discrimination against Roma gypsies to face the challenges of EU membership.

The warning comes from Ralf Dreyer, deputy head of the European Commission's office in Prague.

Speaking to European Voice, Dreyer said authorities in EU states fight corruption "more efficiently than they do here". Although he acknowledged that Prague's 'Clean Hands' anti-corruption programme has led to two public prosecutors being appointed to fight financial and economic crime, he added that they need far greater expertise.

Dreyer said he was concerned that the Czech Republic had slipped from 37th place on the Corruption Perceptions Index in 1998 to 52nd in 2002. Compiled by anti-bribery watchdog Transparency International, it ranks countries according to the levels of perceived corruption among civil servants and politicians.

On the treatment of the Roma community, representing some 3 of the total Czech population, Dreyer called for greater efforts to address the discrimination which it faces in education. He pointed to the disproportionate concentration of Roma children placed in special schools, reserved for children with mild mental disabilities, because they do not have a sufficient command of the Czech language.

Official Czech estimates say that, out of 28,000 pupils in such remedial schools in 2001-2002, more than 25,000 were of Roma ethnicity. Yet research by the European Roma Rights Centre found that the majority had no disability. Poor educational attainment has been blamed as a principal factor behind the 80 joblessness rate affecting the Roma community.

Dreyer also said that the Czech population of 10 million needs to learn more languages "if they are to compete successfully".

The Czech Republic holds its referendum on EU membership next week (13-14 June).