The European Commission on Thursday said it is up to member states to decide
whether they expel Roma people, but only on an individual basis and respecting
the principle of "proportionality", in reaction to France's announcement it will
dismantle 300 Roma camps within three months.
"We're not here, as the European Commission, to judge on individual cases of
Roma people. It's for each government, each authority to make those decisions,"
Matthew Newman, spokesman for justice and human rights said during a press
conference.
He added that before an EU citizen can be expelled from a member state,
authorities must examine whether a crime was committed and how the person is
integrated into the host country.
On Wednesday, French interior inister Brice Hortefeux said 300 illegal "camps
or squats" would be dismantled and the travellers living there, mostly EU
citizens from Romania and Bulgaria, will be sent back to their countries.
The announcement came after President Nicolas Sarkozy held crisis talks to
discuss what he described as the security "problems" posed by the minority,
following an attack on a police station in central France last week.
The French opposition and human rights groups lambasted the decision. Instead
of focussing on integrating the Roma minority, the ruling centre-right party has
engaged in a "demagogic, aggressive and stigmatising discussion", proposing a
security policy which slides into xenophobia, the Socialists said on Thursday.
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