Wednesday

6th Dec 2023

Prospect of French 'anti-Roma' summit disturbs EU presidency

  • France is paying Roma children €100 to leave the country (Photo: Magne Haagen)

Belgium, which currently holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency, may reject France's invitation to a ministerial meeting for fear that Paris wants to use the event to legitimise its policy of rounding up and expelling Roma.

"If it begins to be apparent that the meeting is only a meeting on the Roma and for France with their policy to give the impression that other EU countries approve of what they are doing, Belgium will not be keen to attend," an EU diplomatic source told EUobserver.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

France's immigration minister, Eric Besson, has invited his counterparts from four of the EU's other "Big Six" major economies - Italy, Spain, Germany and the UK - to an informal meeting on immigration in Paris on 6 September.

Belgium is also on the list, as is Greece, a major transit country for migrants attempting to enter the EU, and, even more unusually, Canada.

Another EU diplomat told this website that Paris wants Canada at the meeting because Ottawa currently has "a number of different, specific problems with the EU and Roma coming from the Czech Republic and Hungary."

Neither Prague nor Budapest have been sent invitations, however. Bucharest is hoping to be asked. But so far Romania and Bulgaria are also not invited, despite the fact that many of the Roma arriving in other EU cities in the last few years hail from these two poorest of European Union nations.

Poland, which normally attends these types of EU6 meetings, has also been left out, together with the European Commission.

The EU diplomat said that France may be attempting to push the Roma issue at a bilateral level because it is not on the agenda of any Council meetings.

At the last meeting of Europe ministers in Brussels, the French junior minister for EU affairs, Pierre Lellouche, announced French government plans for the Roma round-ups and expulsions ahead of their implementation, but the other ministers merely took note without discussion.

Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni, of the far-right Northern League, has since praised French President Nicolas Sarkozy's Roma crackdown, a move that aims to break up 300 camps and deport 700 Roma adults and children, mainly to Romania.

Mr Maroni wants to go even further. At the weekend he said he would use the Paris ministerial to re-float the idea of automatically expelling citizens from other EU states who cannot sustain themselves financially and live off state benefits.

Italy wants the EU to introduce mandatory deportation of Roma who cannot pay their own way and will push for such a policy at the September meeting, he explained.

It is understood that Greece is also worried that the meeting could turn out to be a France-Italy show dedicated to the Roma issue, despite French assurances to the contrary.

Berlin, for its part, has decided not to send its interior minister - "due to his busy schedule" - and may send a secretary of state instead.

The meeting appears to be human-rights Kryptonite for London as well, with home secretary Teresa May declining the invitation. Britain will send a UK Border Agency civil servant instead.

In a related development, the Liberal group in the European Parliament in its first post-summer-recess statement condemned Denmark, France, Germany and Sweden for their Roma deportations in recent weeks.

"The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe deeply regrets that several European governments have brazenly stigmatised the Roma community over these past summer months," its leader, Guy Verhofstadt, said on Tuesday.

"The exiling of German-born Roma children to Kosovo, the military-style dismantling of Roma camps in France, the massive expulsions, and the encouragements of an Italian minister to carry out openly xenophobe policies, are sad events for the European Union whose values have been ridiculed."

The Liberals have urged the Council and the European Commission to make an official comment on the Roma situation in Europe during the next parliament session.

"The parliament must remind Europe of our principles and the commission must assure that the rights of minorities are respected," Mr Verhofstadt said.

Orban's sovereignty bill seen as fresh attack on rule of law

Hungary's new sovereignty law has been criticised by the opposition as 'another dark milestone' for the country's democratic values and the rule of law — and it could bring yet another clash between Budapest and Brussels.

Analysis

Why Spain's amnesty deal with Catalans is source of resentment

Spain's new amnesty law for Catalan separatists has sparked protests across the country, fueling concerns about the rule of law, judicial independence, and accountability. But why is the bill so problematic? And who opposes it?

Analysis

How Wilders' Dutch extremism goes way beyond Islamophobia

Without losing sight of his pervasive Islamophobia, it is essential to note Geert Wilders' far-right extremism extends to other issues that could drastically alter the nature of Dutch politics — and end its often constructive role in advancing EU policies.

Latest News

  1. Crunch talks seek breakthrough on EU asylum overhaul
  2. Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies
  3. 'Green' banks lend most to polluters, reveals ECB
  4. Tense EU-China summit showdown unlikely to bear fruit
  5. A look to the past and the future of China-EU relations
  6. Tusk's difficult in-tray on Poland's judicial independence
  7. EU nears deal to fingerprint six year-old asylum seekers
  8. Orbán's Ukraine-veto threat escalates ahead of EU summit

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us