France to Comply with EC Demands on Roma

Romanian gypsies sit next to their luggage shortly after arriving from France at the international airport in Bucharest, Romania, 26 August 2010. Photo by EPA/BGNES

France will amend its legislation in order to comply with EU law on free movement of citizens, as a result of the concerns raised by the European Commission about the expulsion of Roma citizens this summer.

On September 29, the European Commission told France it had until October 15 to present to Brussels a draft and timetable for the adoption of a law that would fully incorporate the EU's 2004 directive on the free movement of people.

The commission said the directive was breached when France carried out Roma expulsions this year.

The French foreign ministry said in a statement that “French authorities will send to (the European Commission) the information required today (Friday)“ and were “prepared to insert certain clauses from the directive into the texts of its laws,“ as cited by DPA.

Earlier Friday, EU commission spokesman Olivier Bailly told reporters during a regular briefing in Brussels that if Paris missed the deadline, 'an infringement procedure would be opened by the end of October.' France had until 2200 GMT to present the required dossier, he said.

French Immigration Minister Eric Besson had told the TV station Public Senat late Tuesday that Paris would draw up the appropriate legislation and have it before parliament as early as December or January.

'Words are not what counts, but deeds. We will see what we get tonight,' Bailly retorted.

France has repatriated more than 8,000 Roma to Romania and Bulgaria since the beginning of the year. Its policy came under fire from Brussels when it appeared that police had been ordered to target Roma camps as they went about tackling irregular migration.

Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner for justice, had defined the expulsion "a disgrace" and threatened that the EC would start an infringement procedure against France for violating EU law.

The French government has stated that the expulsion of a number of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens was based on a violation of the right to stay in an EU country for only 90 days without providing evidence of stable employment and income.

A total of about 100 Bulgarian Roma have been returned from France since July 1, 2010, while the number of expelled Romanian Roma is more than 1000.

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