French measures consisting of evacuating illegal Roma camps and expelling Roma to their home countries – especially Romania - “scrupulously” respect European law, emphasised two French ministers, who came to Brussels on 31 August to defend Paris’ policy on the matter. Secretary of State for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche and Immigration Minister Eric Besson met Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding and Internal Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström.

“This freedom cannot serve as a pretext for illegal activities,” declared Besson to the press. In an information note, the French government explains that the decision of 28 July to evacuate illegal camps aims to put an end to public unrest (violation of the right of ownership, unhealthy living conditions, illegal trafficking and crime, human trafficking via the exploitation of minors for the purpose of begging or prostitution, etc). Next, individual “repatriation decisions” (expulsion to the country of origin with financial assistance) are taken in accordance with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 19.1). These decisions also respect Directive 2004/38 on the right of EU citizens to move and reside freely, which allows expulsion under certain conditions (threat to public order, unreasonable burden for the social assistance scheme, lack of resources). Lastly, says the note, Romanian or Bulgarian nationals may find themselves in breach of employment legislation, their residency thus being illegal under the transitional provisions applied in France in the context of the accession treaties of these countries.

France “is not stigmatising anyone” and “no collective expulsion has been implemented,” said Lellouche. For France, the organisation of grouped flights is, in fact, “separate from the specific examination of each individual situation”. In 2009, 1,381 Romanians and Bulgarians were expelled from France and 1,310 have been expelled since the beginning of 2010.

Besson insisted that “each EU member state must be responsible for the social and economic integration of its nationals,” appearing to argue that the integration of Roma essentially concerns Romania. According to an EU official, the commissioners nevertheless insisted on the fact that it is necessary to talk not just about the expulsion of those who do not respect the law, but also about the necessary integration of Roma in Europe, regardless of the country of origin or the host country.

Received by Reding and Malmström after the French ministers, the second-in-command of Romanian diplomacy, Bogdan Aurescu, considered that the security-related arguments invoked by France in an attempt to justify the expulsion of Roma “did not stand up”. “I asked the European Commission to check whether these voluntary repatriations really are so, bearing in mind the circumstances surrounding the successive camp evacuations,” specified Aurescu.

The French Ministry of Immigration is organising, on 6 September, a “working seminar” on the themes of asylum and illegal immigration, to which Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy, the UK and the Belgian Presidency of the EU are invited.

The Commission is examining, on 1 and 2 September, the two legal aspects of this issue (free movement and the Charter of Fundamental Rights), based on a preliminary analysis presented by Commissioners László Andor (social), Reding and Malmström. This analysis is to be presented to the European Parliament’s LIBE committee, on 2 September, by Françoise Le Bail, director-general at the Commission’s DG Justice.

Boycott

Romania’s Civic Alliance of Roma launched an appeal for a European boycott of French products and demonstrations on 6 September against Paris’ policy with regard to this minority, according to a press release published in Bucharest, on 30 August. This appeal was sent to organisations for the protection of Roma across Europe. Romania’s Roma community totals between 530,000, according to the official census, and 2.5 million people out of 21.5 million Romanians. France is Romania’s fourth largest trading partner.