First gypsies expelled from France arrive in Romania
Date: 20-08-2010
France expelled on Thursday the gypsies living in illegal camps. Thus 412 Romanian citizens will be sent back to Romania by six flights over 19 August-16 September, their return being considered a voluntary one.The first Romanian citizens repatriated from France arrived on Henri Coanda Airport on Thursday. Some declared they did not receive money to return, others saying they got some money from French authorities, Mediafax writes. 14 persons, who asked to be repatriated came by Paris-Bucharest flight which landed at 4.20 p.m. at Otopeni Airport on Thursday.President Basescu: We understand problems caused by Roma camps in France
President Traian Basescu said on Thursday that he understands the problems caused by the Roma camps around the French cities, adding that Romania unreservedly supports the right of all Romanian citizens to move freely across the EU. Basescu also argued for the deployment of Romanian police to France to help sort things out.
'We understand the stance of the French government. At the same time, we express unreserved support for the right of any Romanian citizen to move freely across the EU. As far as the stance of Paris is concerned, we also carry a part of the responsibility. If you remember, we had similar issues with Italy and we managed to effectively solve them after an important number of policemen were deployed to Italy. We will have to do the same in France. The request of the French government is already here. We definitely understand the problems caused by the Roma camps around the French cities. Yet we also support the right of any citizen to freely move in the EU and we will join forces with France in order to find solutions suitable to both states and for all the citizens,' declared the Romanian head of state in the northeastern city of Iasi, on the occasion of a meeting with Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat.
At the same time, Basescu reminded that Romania requested as early as in 2008 that a program for the Europe-wide integration of Roma be set in place. The European Council adopted a decision to this effect and the European Commission was tasked to present a relevant program by the Council meeting in spring 2009, added the head of the state.
'Unfortunately, some countries subsequently said this program was not necessary. There now, what happens in Paris is hard proof that we must have a European scale program for the integration of Roma ethnics, taking into account that we should not make the confusion between assimilation and integration,' Basescu underscored.
He insisted that the goal of such an undertaking should not be the assimilation of the Roma, because all EU citizens have the right to preserve their culture and customs.
'Those on the move probably belong to that category of nomadic Roma and we must take this in consideration. (...) Romania does not speak about assimilation, but of an integration program. Many a time, the politicians pretend that they cannot clearly distinguish assimilation from integration,' said the President.
The first Roma ethnics with Romanian citizenship of the 371 to be 'repatriated' will arrive in Bucharest on Thursday, following an action initiated by France to dismantle 51 illegal Roma camps on its territory. French authorities will use, starting September 1, a special technology to detect gypsies that already received the expulsion aid - 300 euro/adult and 100 euro/minor child, Le Figaro reads. The technology, named Oscar is based on the fingerprints of the gypsies, and its main aim is to deter any persons who wish to receive the aid more than once.
Roberta Anastase: Roma's repatriation - temporary solution that fails resolving basic problem
Roma's repatriation can be a transient solution, but the main problem fails being resolved, Chamber of Deputies Speaker Roberta Anastase told an interview with the RFI radio, on Thursday.Certainly, it (Roma's repatriation - editor's note) might be a temporary solution for a community when it thinks it is somehow abused. In exchange, the basic problem remains unsolved, and the approach is not the right one, and this is what, both the Romanian authorities and the EU Commission emphasized, once and again. The collective blames are not the correct ones. Surely, there is the law to punish the trespassers. Tackling the issue collectively is neither correct, nor European, Anastse told the RFI.
In the Romania Speaker's opinion, the Roma's problem is not Romanian or French, but European. It deals with two schools of thought, here, that approaching the Roma issue as a national one, and the second seeing the issue from the European standpoint and that needs a European approach. When I used to be a MEP, I proposed a European Agency for Roma to be set up, to think exactly such integration policies, at the European level, starting from the prerequisite that this community in itself is nomad, moving from place to place, and it cannot be kept within one single territory, Anastase explained the RFI.
The Chamber of Deputies Speaker Roberta Anastase also stressed that the origin countries have a big responsibility for integrating the Roma in the society, and pointed out that doubtlessly, important, but not enough progresses were made.
