Commissaris Malmström verontrust door Frans memo over Roma (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Internal French documents detailing the way that Roma camps should be dismantled are "extremley worrying" and seem to contravene EU law against collective expulsion, interior commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom i told MEPs on Monday (13 September).
"We will put it into the investigation that is being carried out by the commission. It is extremely worrying," Ms Malmstrom said at an EU parliament hearing after the French papers came to light.
"Member states have the right to expel individuals, if they commit crimes, they are not allowed to be on that territory. But we are looking here if there is an individual process, if they are informed and if it was not a collective action."
The three French documents, which seem to have been issued by the ministries of interior and immigration and which speak of targeting "with priority Roma camps" and "exploit[ing] every possibility provided by criminal law" to shut down the settlements, were published on the Le Canard Social website late last week.
One of the documents, dated 5 August, says that "the President of the Republic has set precise targets, on 28 July, for the evacuation of illegal camps: 300 camps need to be evacuated within three months, with priority those of the Roma."
"These operations cannot be limited to 'dispersion.' One has to be particularly careful not to allow a mere resettlement of the settlers from one area to another."
In a document dated 24 June, two ministers say that most of the Roma are EU citizens from Romania and Bulgaria and enjoy the freedom of movement under community law.
"However, an expulsion order can be taken, issued in case of threat to the public order," the paper reads, reminding local authorities what kind of crimes fall under that category: shoplifting, prostitution or even infringement of labour law.
Mayors and local police officers are advised to have "at least one important operation per week (evacuation, dismantling [of camps] or deportation) regarding in particular Roma." Local authorities are also requested to give advance notice to the ministries on any "big scale evacuation which can generate a media echo."
Pressed by journalists in Brussels on Monday, French EU affairs secretary Pierre Lellouche denied having knowledge of the internal papers and said it was not up to the commission to decide if his country was abiding by the EU treaties or not.
"The French people are the guardians of the EU treaties because they ratified them," he said.
Romania's Schengen accession off the hook
Meanwhile, Paris' recent threat to veto Romania's accession to the EU's border-free "Schengen" area because of the Roma issue seems to have failed.
EU affairs ministers on Monday approved a formal reaction to the European Commission's July report on the judicial situation in Romania. The ministers' text made no reference to Schengen accession or any link between passport-free travel and Romania's ongoing judicial and anti-corruption reforms.
Bogdan Aurescu, Romania's junior minister for EU affairs, said the paper was adopted with no opposition or debate and predicted that the Schengen accession process will continue on the basis of "technical assessments" rather than politics. Romania hopes to get into the zone in late 2010 or early 2011.
"There is no link [of Schengen and anti-corruption measures] in the text, but one cannot say there is no link at all," an EU diplomat told this website. He said member states need to have "trust" in Romanian institutions in order to proceed.
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