Perilous Times
France begins Roma expulsion
France has begun its controversial expulsion of around 700 Roma to
Romania and Bulgaria amid rising criticism of President Nicolas
Sarkozy’s clampdown on the minority.
Published: 9:51AM BST 19 Aug 2010
France begins Roma expulsion
Members belonging to the Roma community take shelter in a hall in
Choisy-le-Roi, outside Paris Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The first 79 Roma who agreed to a so-called “voluntary return
procedure” will be put on an afternoon flight to Bucharest, the first
such expulsion since Sarkozy last month vowed action against Roma,
Gipsy and traveller communities.
France intends to fly 132 more to Timisoara, in western Romania, and
Bucharest on Friday and 160 on August 26, with each adult granted 300
euros and each minor 100 euros.
Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said he was worried about
the risk of “xenophobic reactions”.
“I am worried about the risks of populism and xenophobic reactions in a
context of economic crisis”, Mr Baconschi said.
French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux will next week receive senior
Romanian officials including Secretary of State for Roma Integration
Valentin Mocanu to discuss the Roma’s predicament.
About 10,000 Roma from Romania and Bulgaria were returned to their
countries last year, but this is the first expulsion since Sarkozy in
July announced a clampdown on foreigners.
Baconschi said he “hopes” that all legal procedures have been duly
applied for these “expulsions”.
The European Union’s executive arm has said France must abide by the
bloc’s freedom of movement rules when it expels Roma living illegally
in the country.
The European Commission is following the situation “very attentively”,
a spokesman, Matthew Newman, said.
Most of the Roma who were sent to Romania last year returned to France
afterwards as European citizens free to travel in the EU, officials
admitted.
The French foreign ministry insisted the measures being taken against
the Roma were in line with European rules.
“The measures taken by the French authorities with regard to
dismantling illegal camps fully conform with European rules and do not
in any way affect the freedom of movement for EU citizens, as defined
by treaties,” foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
Valero said a European directive “expressly allows for restrictions on
the right to move freely for reasons of public order, public security
and public health”.
There are about 15,000 Roma of Eastern European origin in France.
The Roma community in Romania numbers 530,000 according to the national
census or 2.5 million according to non-governmental organisations, who
say that some do not declare themselves as Roma fearing discrimination.