FRANCE HAS welcomed the European Commission’s decision not to initiate legal action against it for discrimination against Roma migrants.
The commission yesterday renewed a threat to take legal proceedings against France over its expulsion of Roma, saying Paris had two weeks to comply with EU law or face sanction.
But rather than focusing on whether France may have broken EU laws against discrimination with the repatriation of thousands of Roma to eastern Europe, the commission’s statement dealt with France’s failure to incorporate EU law into national statutes, a significant softening of its previous position.
It means France now has more time to provide evidence that the expulsions have been lawful and to ensure that EU laws are fully transposed into French law.
Responding to the news from Brussels, Bernard Valéro, spokesman for the French foreign ministry, said Paris was “pleased that the commission noted the assurances provided by France on the fact that it was neither the aim nor the effect of the measures taken to target a specific minority”. The French authorities set out to apply EU law without discrimination, he added.
The dispute over Roma expulsions has badly strained relations between Paris and the commission in recent weeks. President Nicolas Sarkozy defended the policy after justice commissioner Viviane Reding earlier this month accused senior French officials of being duplicitous in their dealings with the EU. In unusually trenchant criticism of a European government, she called France’s handling of the issue “disgraceful” and linked the episode to the treatment of gypsies under the Nazi regime.
In its statement yesterday, the commission said it would begin legal action against France in two weeks unless Paris could outline how and when it intended to transpose EU law on to its statute books.
France could escape disciplinary action entirely if it convinces the commission that it will quickly meet the EU requirement that all member states incorporate EU rules, in this case the bloc’s regulations on the free movement of people. “Of course France will, as it has done until now, provide all necessary information,” Mr Valéro said. The French government has publicly insisted its campaign to dismantle illegal camps and settlements, which has led to the repatriation of thousands of Roma migrants to Romania and Bulgaria in two months, was not aimed specifically at the Roma community.
However, a memo leaked to the press showed that, on August 5th, the interior minister’s office instructed police chiefs that “300 camps or unlawful settlements must be cleared within three months, those of Roma being the priority”.
The memo went on to order prefects to take “systematic steps” to dismantle “unlawful camps, prioritising those of Roma”.
When the circular was made public, Mr Sarkozy ordered his interior minister to issue a new one containing no reference to Roma camps.