Ljubljana/Novo Mesto/Murska Sobota - Mayors from southeastern part of Slovenia have urged the government to set up an inter-departmental body capable of systemically addressing Roma-relates issues. This come less than three weeks after a 22-year-old was shot dead and two were injured in Brezje, an informal Roma settlement near Novo Mesto.

Novo Mesto Mayor Grohor Macedoni address a letter to Prime Minister Robert Golob, saying the approach he proposes had already brought about a draft of much-needed legislative changes that could reverse the downward spiral.

He expressed regret that a part of the proposals drafted by the interdepartmental body under the previous government had been voted down.

Macedoni believes that criminal activity among the Roma was the consequence of ineffective legislation and penalty policies and is indirectly connected to ineffective social, employment and education policies of the state.

The view that a systemic approach is needed is shared also by the mayors of Kočevje and Ribnica, Vladimir Prebilič and Samo Pogorelec, public broadcaster TV Slovenija reported.

The government has responded with a short statement for the STA, saying that its approach would be of interdepartmental nature.

However, Interior Minister Tatjana Bobnar is in favour of an interdepartmental body, she said during her visit to the region on Monday. Her ministry has received a number of such initiatives, she said.

The Roma Association is also in favour of establishing such a body, with its president Jožek Horvat Muc telling the STA that the association had already called on the government to create such a body and that the government had answered in the affirmative.