Brussels, 12/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The EU/Slovakia Joint Parliamentary committee (JPC) has launched an appeal to the Slovak Government to take additional measures in view of improving the living conditions of the Roma living on their territory, and that it ensure concrete implementation, at all levels, of the legislative provisions taken at national level: "The JPC welcomed the progress in developing national approaches to the problem of minorities, but however noted a gap between policy formulation and its implementation at local level", the conclusion approved by the JPC on 6 March observe. The JPC calls on local administrations to implement policies decided at national level to further improve the conditions of the Roma, while recognising that the problem of the Roma is not only limited to the Slovak territory, but that it is a European problem of considerable political, economic and social complexity, that requires cooperation at European level.
As for the preparations for the country's membership, the JPC places emphasis on the need for the Slovak Government to make additional efforts to set up the necessary administrative structures to esure the implementation and correct control of the acquis communautaire on accession.