Czech Foreign Minister speaks with advisor to Sarkozy about the Roma

During a meeting today at the Office of the French President, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg explained his position on the Roma issue and the repatriation of Roma to the Balkans from France, an event he recently said gave him the impression of racism. On a working visit to Paris he met with Sarkozy’s foreign policy advisor Jean-David Levitte. Nuclear energy was also discussed.

The minister told journalists that he brought up the topic of Roma because it was a sensitive question for him. Levitte did not raise the issue, but the minister said that “openness and sincerity is the best way.”

In recent weeks, France has returned hundreds of Roma migrants back to Bulgaria and Romania, the countries of which they are citizens, justifying the move by calling it necessary to security and pointing out that the Roma do not meet the legal conditions for foreigners residing in France. The approach has been criticized both at home and abroad.

At a recent press conference, Schwarzenberg said he “could not ignore the suspicion that racist views are also playing a role in this [the returning of the Roma].” In a subsequent television interview he said that he had “said it just gives the impression to the outside world as if it were racism.”

Today in Paris he told journalists that the Roma issue is also sensitive for him because he grew up near the Roma camp at Lety. During the Nazi occupation, more than 1 300 Roma passed through the camp, of whom 327 are documented as having perished there and more than 500 as having been transported to Auschwitz.

The minister said Levitte spoke of France’s great interest in participating in the completion of the nuclear power plants at Temelín or Dukovany. Schwarzenberg said it would be interesting for the Czech Republic if France were to participate in the tender for the Temelín reconstruction because in his view it has the most modern technology at its disposal. Levitte is said to have assured him that the French intend to make a bid. Schwarzenberg was also scheduled to meet with his counterpart Bernard Kouchner in Paris today.