A Tale of Romas, Fuming French, and a Luxemburger.

OPINION by Patrick English

It sounds like a new Burger King advert, but no, this is the extraordinary story of the French state forces dismantling some 500 Gypsy camps and deporting hundreds of Roma Gypsies to their native Romania, and the resulting backlash from the always twitchy EU. The story has thrown up some rather interesting questions, most notably, just who is in the political and ethical right?


Social tensions between the majority French population and the Roma have long been in place, similar to those present between Gypsies in the UK and the home-dwelling population at large. So far as the overall size of the Roma Gypsy population of France goes, they actually don't have much room for complaint. The numbers are similar to those here in the UK, Germany, and Italy:

The unsettling tensions really started between the French government and the Gypsy people residing within France really started on July 19th when a Roma mob rioted in the Loire Valley town of Saint Aignan in response to a Roma man being shot dead by Police there a few days earlier. This sparked a flurry of government and journalist statements and comments condemning the Roma and their camps, one government spokesman described them as:

   'sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundly shocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime'.

On the 29th of July, Sarkozy ordered the dismantling of around 300 camps. He promised the EU and the world at large that there was no bias or targeting towards Roma Gypsy camps, instead this was a clean sweep of many camps right across France. However, the EU parliament did not take kindly to the actions, and vote to demand a stop to the deportations; the French high command duly ignored this, and pressed on. On Monday, a memo was leaked from a government official revealing that in fact Roma camps were being specifically targeted by the French 'clean-out'. This revelation caused the EU Commission's Justice Minister Ms Reding, of Luxembourg, to accuse Sarkozy's government of nigh on Nazi tendencies:

   "This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War."

Strong words, and Sarkozy today duly replied:

   "The disgusting and shameful words that were used - World War II, the evocation of the Jews was something that shocked us deeply,"

Can Sarkozy be found guilty of discrimination or racism toward the Roma population? Or is he simply legitimately removing a people who are not living by the rules in his country? Certainly the leaked memo strongly suggests that there is targeting going on specifically directed at Roma Gypsy camps; but Sarkozy denies this, stating that of the 5,500 people evicted so far from the camps, the majority have been French nationals. It is estimated that around 1,000 Roma have been deported from the camps to Romania, each of these has been a 'voluntary resettlement' deportation, with each being paid the equivalent of around 250 pounds sterling to leave. What of the morals and ethics of carrying out such a  'voluntary resettlement'? Certainly there has not been much violence, no one has technically been forced to leave, and the land didn't belong to the Gypsies in the first place but instead the French people, who the government is saying to be returning it too. Sarkozy can also add to his moral mountain the support of the majority of the French people, and the fact that he has unfairly practically been called a Nazi. However, is it ever ethical to split families, destroy homes, and racially target a group for eviction and deportation? Suddenly Sarkozy's moral mountain seems more like a molehill.

Politically, the EU stands accusing Sarkozy of deliberately targeting Roma Gypsies, and illegitimately removing EU nationals who have every right to be in France under the free movement laws in operation in all member states. On the other hand Sarkozy argues that by not paying taxes, not abiding by French land laws, and providing havens for those committing crimes such as prostitution and begging, they are criminals themselves and may be dealt with by the French authorities appropriately. The question is, who has sovereignty in this unique and dangerous situation?

The Lisbon treaty clearly states that the EU parliament is sovereign over any member state's, and that any decision made there must be implemented into national law. However, the French have a form of tradition of not implementing EU legislation or instead watering it down before incorporating it into their set-up. Up until now, it's mostly gone un-quarrelled, but the recent complete blatant dismissal of supposed sovereignty when deciding to push on with the deportations has brought heavy criticism; some members of the Commission have even called for legal action to be taken against France, notably including Ms Reding. Such calls have been played down by other member states and the EU as a body, a sign of them perhaps backing off? If so, does this mean that any large member state of the EU can simply stand up and push away the Commission and Parliament over controversial issues? If the EU chooses to back down, what of it's reputation and supranational sovereignty?

Politically, the EU should have the power to tell France to stop deporting the Roma Gypsies if it voted so. The problem is, it has voted so, and France did not listen. Why? Because in reality, the French people will probably feel that the EU has no real mandate over France, or any other member country for that matter; averagely, only about 30% of the electorate of any member state participates in the EU elections, and most of those who do participate vote for an anti-EU or Euro-sceptic party. Truth be told, the EU has the theoretical upper hand over France, but the French people will feel that in practice they should have the final say on this particular issue. Whether that's fair is irrelevant, they have made the decision to ignore the EU, but certainly it seems that the EU will now have to make a tough decision; does it let France deal with its own issues of such controversy and surrender its sovereignty, or does it assert its power to stand up for those under the French boot, and risk greatly angering the population? Whatever the case for allowing France to deal with asserting its own land laws, something should really be done about the racial targeting of the Roma, their treatment is infringing human rights and almost inhumane.