For and against the roma repatriations

The Roma, an ethnic minority that has been discriminated for centuries, have in recent years been migrating to France, Italy and Spain in search of a better life; paradoxically they’ve discover a Europe that is indifferent or even hostile to their problems.

The Roma ask for the observance of their right to free movement in Europe according to the principle of equal rights for everybody. The Roma do not understand why the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, decided to dismantle the unauthorized Roma camps and to repatriate hundreds of them who do not have a job or have perpetrated criminal acts.


Delia Grigore, the president of the Amare Romenza Roma Centre from Bucharest, believes the Roma are right to contest the decision. She expressed her consternation and dread that history is repeating itself and noted that the situation is similar to that of August 30th 2002 when Sarkozy was interior minister and took discriminatory, racist measures against immigrants, including the Roma minority.

Since then, the situation has changed. Romania is an EU member and the right of EU citizens to free movement and stay on the European territory is a fundamental principle, says the Roma representative, Delia Grigore.


Such deportations or expulsions proposed today by the French state are reminiscent of the Nazis, Grigore believes, just like biometric fingerprinting; it is an affront to human dignity, a public humiliation of the Roma people.

Such a political action is not acceptable in 2010, says Delia Grigore, the president of the Amare Romenza Roma Centre from Bucharest.


However Paris considers that this ‘cleansing’ is not a discrimination made on ethnic criteria and urges Romania, Bulgaria and the EU to work together to find the right solutions for the integration and settling of the Roma in their countries of origin.

This is a complicated undertaking, costly and long-lasting, given the nomadic nature of the Roma people, and this is food for thought for the European countries.

Bucharest has expressed willingness to co-operate and sent two state secretaries to Paris.

“We have agreed to look at the Roma issue from two angles: the social angle and the delinquency angle, given that the program of re-integration and inclusion refers to solving this social issue in our country. We have suggested that this should be promoted as a European project, as a model of police co-operation and good practice", said Dan Fatuloiu, with the Interior Ministry.

(Radio România Internaţional, Serviciul în limba engleză).