EU commission monitoring French Roma explusions
The European Commission is keeping a close eye on the French government’s round-up and expulsion of Roma to ensure that EU rules are not breached, the EU executive said on Wednesday (18 August) on the eve of the deportations.
"We are watching the situation very closely to make sure rules are respected," said Matthew Newman, spokesman for EU fundamental rights commissioner Viviane Reding.
"If a state is deporting anyone, we must be sure it is proportionate. It must be on a case-by-case basis and not an entire population," he continued.
Referencing a 2004 EU law on the free movemnt of citizens, he said: "The rules are pretty clear. They apply to France and they apply to any other EU country."
However, Mr Newman said the commission did not feel that Paris is engaged in a "mass expulsion".
Two commissioners are understood to be monitoring the situation, Ms Reding and Laszlo Andor, the employment and social affairs commissioner.
In a move that has given President Nicolas Sarkozy a bump in opinion polls, the government has ordered the destruction of some 300 Roma settlements which were constructed without permission, and the expulsion from the country of a number of gypsies and their repatriation to Romania.
