France escapes rap over Roma issue

The European Commission yesterday avoided an escalation in the fierce spat between Brussels and Paris over the deportation of some 8,000 gypsies back to Romania earlier on this year, saying there was no clear evidence of discrimination in the way France treated Roma minorities.

However, the Commission still decided to initiate legal proceedings against France over the incorrect transposition of its Directive on Free Movement. It also warned all the other member states that it would be reviewing the way they were implementing this directive and initiate infringement procedures where it found irregularities.

After the Commission’s decision was announced, the EU’s Justice Commissioner Viviane Reading, who earlier this month controversially described the deportation as a “disgrace”, admitted yesterday, that “on the discrimination aspect, we do not have the legal proof.”

Although the decision taken by Brussels is being described as a serious warning to France over the Roma issue, Paris considered the Commission’s withdrawal as a confirmation that it acted correctly in the action taken against the gypsy camps.

Welcoming the decision, French Immigration Minster Eric Besson said that the EU executive’s decision was far from a snub.

“The Commission took note that there was no discrimination. France is emerging with its head high from its exchange with the Commission. It’s good news for everyone.”

Explaining its decision, the Commission yesterday said that recent developments in France had led to a detailed exchange between the Commission and the French authorities on the application of EU law on free movement of people.

“The Commission took note of the assurances given by France at the highest political level,” but stopped short of stating that Paris infringed EU rules.

Instead it said that Brussels had been assured that measures taken by the French authorities did not have the objective or the effect of targeting a specific ethnic minority, but treated all EU citizens in the same manner.

“The French authorities fully ensure an effective and non-discriminatory application of EU law in line with the Treaties and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights,” the Commission said.

But Ms Reding’s controversial comments, in which she also likened the expulsions to Nazi deportations during WWII, came after the leak of an internal memo by a senior French official who reminded local government officials of a three-month deadline to vacate illegal camps “particularly those of the Roma”.

At the time Nicholas Sarkozy’s government was under fire for expelling nearly 1,000 Romanian and Bulgarian Gypsies, but ministers were publicly insisting that the Roma were not being specifically targeted.

The official will appear before a tribunal next month facing charges of “incitement to racial hatred”. The legal action was launched by the Representative Council of Black Associations. After the row, the government withdrew the directive and issued another ordering the evacuation of the camps “whoever the occupants”.

The Commission yesterday reite­rated the right of every EU citizen to free movement within the Union but said that member states “are responsible for and entitled to take the measures to protect public safety and public order on their territory.”

Brussels said that in doing so, member states must respect the rules laid down in the 2004 Directive on Free Movement, the fundamental rights of EU citizens and avoid discrimination, notably on grounds of nationality or the belonging to an ethnic minority.