The roma of Europe
The thorn in Romania’s relationship with France, namely the Roma issue, has become a priority on the European agenda.
15 Septembrie 2010, 14:58
The expulsions of the Roma from France to Romania and Bulgaria, for which they receive a certain amount of money, or repatriations, as they are regarded in Paris, have become the subject of a European Parliament resolution.
The document condemns the expulsions and calls for their immediate halt. The resolution, which is not binding, was met with satisfaction in Bucharest. Paris, on the other hand, has ignored the “minor detail” of the resolution and said repatriations would continue.
Romania, which is home to the largest Roma community in Europe, invokes the right of free movement within the European Union, while France speaks about national and international law and blames the Roma for involvement in crimes, prostitution, begging and the exploitation of minors.
This sensitive bilateral issue was the main theme discussed on Thursday in Bucharest by two senior French officials, Eric Besson, minister for immigration, integration and national identity, and Pierre Lellouche, state secretary for European affairs.
They met Romania’s foreign minister Teodor Baconschi, interior minister Vasile Blaga and labour minister Ioan Botis and tried to secure Bucharest’s promise that it would do its best to ensure the integration of the Roma into society.
The two sides agreed to work together to obtain additional funds from the European Union meant to improve the Roma’s living standard in Romania.
Eric Besson said the talks between Paris and Bucharest would continue at top level between Romania’s president Traian Basescu and his counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy. The thorny diplomatic issue between Romania and France started in July, when Paris began to close down the illegal Roma camps on the outskirts of big cities.
This was followed by Lellouche’s statement that France “had reservations” about Romania’s joining the Schengen area in 2011. During his recent trip to Bucharest, however, Lellouche said that “the Schengen issue was not related to the Roma problem.”
(Radio România Internaţional, Serviciul în limba engleză).
