EU's "Big Five" immigration meeting is not anti-Roma, France says

Aug 25, 2010, 14:40 GMT

Paris/Brussels - A meeting next month on immigration between Europe's five biggest countries is not going to target the Roma or any other ethnic group, the French government official who is hosting the talks said Wednesday.

French Immigration Minister Eric Besson confirmed he invited the Italian, German, British and Spanish interior ministers to Paris on September 6.

But in a statement, he said 'nothing in the agenda ... is specifically covering a specific nationality or ethnic community.'

The minister explained that the talks - to which Besson also invited officials from Greece, Canada, the United States and the Belgian presidency of the European Union - are expected to focus on 'asylum issue and the fight against irregular migration.'

He said the meeting was called ahead of an EU ministerial conference on asylum, scheduled for September 13-14 in Brussels.

Besson also said he would host talks on EU-US cooperation on fighting irregular migration on October 21-22, involving police chiefs from the US and the so-called 'G6' group - made up of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Spain and Poland.

France has been accused of racism since embarking last week on a plan to dismantle Gypsy camps and repatriate the ethnic Romas that were found to be living irregularly there to Romania and Bulgaria, in return for a 300-euro (385-dollar) individual payout.

But Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni - hailing from a fellow right-wing government - backed the French policy, and said he would use the September 6 meeting to call for a change in EU immigration laws, making expulsions easier.

The European Commission - the only body which has the right to initiate EU legislation - was not invited by Besson. The Brussels-based body said it was 'following events very carefully' but has stopped short of directly criticising the French expulsions.

A spokesman said that justice commissioner Viviane Reding has asked for a 'legal and political' analysis on the policy, which may contravene the EU's directive on the free movement of people.

Reding is due to discuss the matter with fellow EU commissioners on Wednesday, but no formal commission report is expected to be made public, officials said.