The fate of the Romany neighbourhood in Marchevo is in some ways very similar to many other Romany neighbourhoods in Bulgaria, and in other ways very different. Here, like in many other places, the neighbourhood has never figured in local planning schemes. It lies on land which was once nationalised and is now the object of restitution claims. Nearly half a century after the implementation of Party directives to force the Romanies to settle on this piece of land, not a single metre of asphalt has been laid, nor a single metre of water pipe, nor a transformer to ensure an electricity supply. Nobody in the neighbourhood has any land.
Nobody goes to work.
The inhabitants' livelihood comes from the forest and from social security, providing no more than the opportunity to vegetate. Against the backdrop of the overall marginalisation of this mountain region populated by minorities, the social isolation of people from the neighbourhood in question is truly staggering. The idea of citizen organisations, of partnerships with local authorities or with anyone else outside the home are as comprehensible as nuclear physics is to most of us. This lobbying prompted the Minister to order the designation of the land the Romany community's houses stand on to be changed, and it is now due to be included in the town and country planning schemes. The Marchevo case is one of a great many of its type.