British government would like to pass new legislation to prevent the flow of asylum seekers and speed up deportation of failed applicants. Human right protection organisations have sharply protested against the government measures. Failed applicants should be provided free air tickets home, say the organisations. Those who would refuse to leave the country could be deprived of all social support, including the right for free medical care. As then they would be unable to support their families the authorities could then take their children away from them and place them in children´ s homes. The government hopes that this threat will force failed applicants for asylum to leave Great Britain. Refugees not granted right for asylum by British authorities have so far received social allowances from the State in the British Isles. The process of deportation could have taken years.

Taking away children used to be a widespread instrument of assimilation policy of the former Czechoslovakia. After November 1989 the process of democratisation began. Approximation to and gradual takeover of legislation and standards of action usual in the developed democratic countries became a generally declared and accepted objective. An opposite process seems to be taking place silently in the background at the same time. Many of the practices of the former regime, defined as totalitarian, seem to come in handy in traditionally democratic countries, too. Facing the requirement of sharing their wealth some responsible representatives are willing to apply methods and instruments criticised by them until recently as violation of human rights.

Accession of the Czech and the Slovak Republics to the European Union will be an ”hour of truth”. Both for the Romany population and for the European Union. On the one hand the accession will automatically exclude our Romany inhabitants from the asylum proceedings and on the other it will guarantee free access to EU countries, at least under the rules effective today.

In the Romany case time will show whether they are really only interested in kind of “leave” at the cost of others, as they are often blamed. The relationship of individual EU countries and the European Union as a whole to the Romany population seeking a way out of their desperate situation will be a test of how seriously they mean their ideals of freedom, democracy and human rights.

So far Western Europe has resisted inflow of people from the poorer Eastern countries, asserting various provisional restrictions. The possibility of legal employment will hardly be available, especially for Romany people. Further tightening, sanctions, pursuits and deportations do not seem to disappear from the repertoire of popular political instruments and practice of European countries in near future.