EU Opinion: 'It's about the future of Europe' - by Alexander Andreev

"The migrants are coming!" It's a battle cry currently heard across large parts of Europe - an issue dominating not only the headlines in the British press, but also the talk in German pubs and even the toned-down, politically-correct documents of the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) parties.

We are currently experiencing an attempt to reduce a complex problem involving party politics and European policies to a single aspect – namely the dangers associated with the alleged flood of immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania and their impact on the public welfare systems.

But the reality is much more complicated. First of all, it concerns citizens of two different EU member states. Secondly, the migration isn't homogenous. While some Bulgarians and Romanians have a sincere desire to find work, others hope to collect child and unemployment benefits.

And some of these people are Roma. Bulgaria and Romania have millions of Roma people, most of whom are very poor, and very badly treated by the majority population. Thirdly, the migrants' qualifications vary. While some are doctors and engineers, others can hardly read and write. And fourthly, there are no reliable forecasts of the number of possible immigrants, nor of the advantages or disadvantages for the labor market and welfare systems.

Read more: Opinion: 'It's about the future of Europe' | Europe | DW.DE | 02.01.2014

Roma: a problem that won't go away for the EU

The Roma people are an ethnic group with origins in South Asia and Eastern Europe who are widely dispersed with their largest concentrated populations in Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe. Also there are more recent diaspora populations in the Americas and, to a lesser extent, in North Africa and the Middle East..In addition there is a subgroup of the Romani people who live primarily in Central and Eastern Europe. In the EU there are an estimated 10-million Roma and nearly 90% of them live below the poverty line. Turkey which is an aspiring EU member has 2.7 million Roma living within its borders.

France's stepped-up removal of Roma migrants this summer, part of what President Sarkozy has called a crackdown on crime, has caused quite a stir in the EU. President Sarkozy says the expulsions are a matter of security and that the European Commission should come up with Europe-wide solutions rather than criticizing France. He said there had been no expulsions based on ethnicity. On the other hand President Sarkozy was unrepentant as to his actions and vowed during a EU Heads-Of-State meeting in Bruxelles to continue dismantling illegal immigrant camps.

The French policy also involves offering Roma families a financial incentive to return to Romania and Bulgaria. The row has underscored differences in Europe over how to deal with problems related to immigration, persistent unemployment and ethnic minorities, particularly at a time of economic slowdown and social hardship. Presently more than 400 camps have been dismantled in France and about 1000 Roma have already been deported to Romania and Bulgaria.

There are about 400.000 Roma of which 15000 Roma from Romania and Bulgaria in France. Even though as EU citizens they are allowed in, there is a three-month limit on people who don’t have jobs or incomes. France is enforcing that, and clamping down on the illegal camps in which the Roma live.

France is also not the first EU country deporting the Roma people: Italy also deported Roma last year, but pretty much got away with it.Some countries in the EU, such as Spain, have treated the Roma problem more humanely, investing resources to integrate the Roma economically and socially into society, instead of marginalizing and deporting them.

EU-Digest 

EU might react legally against France on Roma - by Cerise Negulici

Commissioner Viviane Reding that the European Commission must take legal lawsuit against France over its exile of Roma. Ms Reding termed French dealings a dishonor. She regretted the fact that a betrayal official memo opposed reassurance provided to her by France.

France expressed it bewilderment in reply to her statement on Tuesday.It exiled approximately 230 Roma on Tuesday only, sending them to Romania from Paris and Marseille. In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry articulated disappointment at the EU commissioner's declaration. According to a ministry spokesman he did not feel that the EU minister's remarks can perk up circumstances for Roma.

Since mid-August, France has exiled more than 1,000 Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, and dislocated more than 100 of their camps, in a stir that President Nicolas Sarkozy calls a clean-up on crime.

For more: EU might react legally against France on Roma | French Tribune

East European Eyes on France’s Roma Policy - by Alison Smale

After a summer marked by a needless quarrel over how to treat their Roma population, the French seem on course for an autumn of discontent over issues much closer to their pocketbooks: the reform of their state pensions.

For the trade unionists and leftists gearing up to take on President Nicolas Sarkozy and his government over treasured welfare benefits, protests may well drown out the summer storm over the Roma. For the rest of Europe, the memory may not fade so fast.

For more: Letter From Europe - East European Eyes on France’s Roma Policy - NYTimes.com

Europe's oldest integration challenge

In a post-9/11 world, the discourse on minority integration in Europe is dominated by the continent’s relatively new Muslim immigrants, with headscarf and burqa bans having emerged as the issue’s most emotive symbols.
But Europe also faces a much older integrationist challenge, one that persists unresolved over hundreds of years: the Roma. The Roma or gypsies as they are pejoratively also known, are linguistically and ethnically related to north Indians. It’s believed they left their homeland during the 11th century for reasons that remain debated, possibly a result of Muslim invasions. They never returned.


Today the Roma are estimated to number between two million and five million, the majority of whom live in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania. As new member states of the European Union, the citizens of these Eastern European countries now enjoy freedom of movement across the 27-nation bloc. As a result, the Roma are increasingly moving to the richer countries of Western Europe where despite the ingrained rhetoric of human rights, they find themselves as unwelcome as ever.

For more: Europe's oldest integration challenge

Roma reveal a rootless Europe - Christopher Caldwell

Last week in Lille a Catholic priest announced that he was praying that French president Nicolas Sarkozy would have a heart attack. The priest, Arthur Hervet, who has since retracted his words, is passionate about fair treatment for immigrant gypsies (or Roma, known in France as Roms). They are currently in the French president’s line of fire. In the Loire in mid-July a group of French gypsies (known in France as “travelling people”) attacked a police station with axes. Two weeks later, in Grenoble, Mr Sarkozy launched an “offensive sécuritaire”. He would break up 600 illegal encampments and squats, many of them occupied by immigrants from Romania, and repatriate the inhabitants.

For more: FT.com / Columnists / Christopher Caldwell - Roma reveal a rootless Europe

European press thrashes France on Roma

Libération says “France stands accused” and bemoans that "the degraded image of Sarkozy’s France isn’t just an image. It’s a reality as reported day after day in the foreign press,” a selection of which is reprinted in the Parisian daily to drive the point home. Trouw pronounces the return of the Roma "in flagrant breach of the European principle of equality”, which is why "the European Commission ought to take France to task”. "Sarkozy is conning the nation," adds the Dutch daily.

Note EU-Digest: the Dutch might soon be following the example of Mr. Sarkozy if Geert Wilders becomes part of the new Dutch Government.

European press thrashes France on Roma | Presseurop – English

Romanian, Bulgarian Roma Stir Riots in Southern France:

Roma have blocked a major road bridge near the city of Bordeaux in southern France in protest against their eviction from an illegal camp site, BBC reported late Sunday.

Around 250 vehicles blocked the bridge for five hours, causing tailbacks of up to five kilometers on a public holiday weekend. More than 40 illegal camps have been closed in the past week.

The French Interior Minister, Brice Hortefeux, says Roma from Eastern Europe will be deported on "specially chartered flights".

For more; Romanian, Bulgarian Roma Stir Riots in Southern France: Romanian, Bulgarian Roma Stir Riots in Southern France - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency