EU drops complaint against France over Roma expulsions
The European Commission has dropped its plans to take legal action against France over its deportation of several hundred Roma minorities to Rumania and Bulgaria.
The European Union's Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said yesterday that the French government assured the commission that it would change its national laws to ensure the rights of Roma minorities to stay in the country as EU citizens.
Therefore, the commission sees no need to pursue legal action against France at the European court of Justice for violating EU rules, Reding said in a statement.
However, the commission will closely monitor whether France fulfils its promises, she said.
The relations between the European Commission and the French government became strained after Reding drew indirect parallels between the expulsion of the Roma and the deportation of thousands of Sintis (Roma) by the Nazi Germany during the World War II.
"I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a member state of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority," Reding had said in Brussels on September 14.
"This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War," she said.
Reding later apologised for her remarks, but they outraged the French government and led to a heated exchange between President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso at the EU summit in Brussels last month.
More than 1,000 Roma minorities were deported by France to Romania and Bulgaria since last August.
The French government has been defending its action arguing that the authorities were closing down "illegal" Roma camps, which it associates with crimes, drug trafficking and prostitution.
The government also claimed that most of the deportees are leaving voluntarily, taking advantage of cash payments of about 330 euros (USD 455) per adult and about 100 euros (USD 137) per child.
The dispute between the European commission and the French government centred on an EU law which guarantees every EU citizen, including the Roma from Rumania and Bulgaria, the right to stay in any of the 27 member nations of the EU.
The commission criticised the French government for not incorporating the EU law into national law.
At the end of September, the commission threatened to take legal action against France at the European Court of Justice for violating the EU rules.
Last Friday, the French government informed the commission that it will pass by early 2011 a national legislation on the EU's Free Movement Directive of 2004.
"France has done exactly what the European Commission had demanded, Reding said adding, therefore the commission for the time being will not pursue infringement actions against France.
"We need to go to the root of the problem and encourage stronger national efforts in providing access to housing, education, health and labour market and in eradicating poverty", she said.
The European Union's Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said yesterday that the French government assured the commission that it would change its national laws to ensure the rights of Roma minorities to stay in the country as EU citizens.
Therefore, the commission sees no need to pursue legal action against France at the European court of Justice for violating EU rules, Reding said in a statement.
However, the commission will closely monitor whether France fulfils its promises, she said.
The relations between the European Commission and the French government became strained after Reding drew indirect parallels between the expulsion of the Roma and the deportation of thousands of Sintis (Roma) by the Nazi Germany during the World War II.
"I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a member state of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority," Reding had said in Brussels on September 14.
"This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War," she said.
Reding later apologised for her remarks, but they outraged the French government and led to a heated exchange between President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso at the EU summit in Brussels last month.
More than 1,000 Roma minorities were deported by France to Romania and Bulgaria since last August.
The French government has been defending its action arguing that the authorities were closing down "illegal" Roma camps, which it associates with crimes, drug trafficking and prostitution.
The government also claimed that most of the deportees are leaving voluntarily, taking advantage of cash payments of about 330 euros (USD 455) per adult and about 100 euros (USD 137) per child.
The dispute between the European commission and the French government centred on an EU law which guarantees every EU citizen, including the Roma from Rumania and Bulgaria, the right to stay in any of the 27 member nations of the EU.
The commission criticised the French government for not incorporating the EU law into national law.
At the end of September, the commission threatened to take legal action against France at the European Court of Justice for violating the EU rules.
Last Friday, the French government informed the commission that it will pass by early 2011 a national legislation on the EU's Free Movement Directive of 2004.
"France has done exactly what the European Commission had demanded, Reding said adding, therefore the commission for the time being will not pursue infringement actions against France.
"We need to go to the root of the problem and encourage stronger national efforts in providing access to housing, education, health and labour market and in eradicating poverty", she said.
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