EU deputies blast cautious Brussels response to Roma row (Roundup)

Sep 7, 2010, 17:08 GMT

Strasbourg, France - European Parliament lawmakers from the centre-left blasted the European Commission on Tuesday for what they saw as a timid response to France's controversial expulsion of hundreds of Roma, also known as Gypsies.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right government has been under fire since late July, when it started systematically repatriating Romas living in illegal camps, either via a voluntary 300-euro (385- dollar) payout or an expulsion order for those deemed a threat to public order.

But the EU's justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, summoned to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, to explain whether French measures comply with the bloc's laws on free movement and anti- discrimination, took a cautious line.

'The commission ... has always to be aware of the dangers of being (exploited) by national party political debates,' Reding said, suggesting that criticism of France was at least partly politically motivated.

That angered Socialist, Liberals, Green and hard-left members of parliament (MEP), with Austrian Social Democrat Hannes Swoboda declaring himself 'deeply disappointed' with Reding saying 'very little that was critical of French authorities' actions.'

The commissioner said the analysis on the French Roma crackdown was 'not yet finished. We have not yet proof (whether) there was discrimination or not.'

But she pointed out that in a meeting last week in Brussels, French Immigration Minister Eric Besson assured her that all EU norms had been scrupulously respected.

'I see this assurance given by French ministers as a very positive development,' Reding informed lawmakers.

She also pointed to her August 25 statement, where she regretted the 'openly discriminatory and partly inflammatory' rhetoric against Romas, but did not say which EU states she had heard it from.

In addition, Reding said the commission decided Tuesday to set up a 'Roma Task Force' to check how EU funds made available for Roma integration are actually spent, and proposed to hold regular meetings on the subject between EU justice, immigration and social affairs ministers.

Only 12 of the EU's 27 states - including Romania and Bulgaria, where Romas from France were deported, but not France itself - have used money from the European Social Fund to help out Roma, commission figures show.

'The money is available, the money is not being used to solve the problem,' Reding lamented, suggesting that governments shied away from Roma-inclusion programmes because they are 'not very popular.'

Reding's approach was backed by the conservative European People's Party (EPP), the political family with which she and Sarkozy are affiliated.

'It is a pity that all sides of the political spectrum seek to use the Roma issue as a weapon against their counterparts,' said Hungarian EPP deputy Livia Jaroka, who is the only ethnic Roma member of the EU assembly.

Under EU law, people staying in another EU country for more than three months can be expelled if they have no means to support themselves or if they pose a serious threat to public order. But each case must be assessed individually, preventing mass deportations.

Speaking to EU lawmakers earlier Tuesday, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also avoided direct condemnation of French policies, simply stressing that 'racism and xenophobia have no place in Europe.'

Barroso, who had met Sarkozy in Paris on the previous day, made his comments during his debut 'State of the Union' address, billed as a keynote speech on EU policy priorities for the next 12 months.