European MPs slam France over deportation of Romas

[pampango]

Source: Calgary Herald

Euro-MPs slammed France on Tuesday over President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to deport Roma migrants overstaying their welcome, but the European Commission stayed out of the fray. But as some MEPs dubbed the policy "unacceptable", Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Justice, stood up to say she was satisfied by France's justifications of the move.

Socialist Austrian Hannes Swoboda and Romanian Liberal Renate Weber both dubbed the Commission's stand "unacceptable", warning it could encourage countries such as Italy and Hungary to follow suit by also sending Gypsies home.

The Liberal, Socialist, Green and Communist political groups presented draft resolutions to condemn Roma expulsions by France, with a vote due Thursday.

In Milan meanwhile, Italian police said they had evacuated and dismantled a Roma camp near the northern city of Milan as demolitions and transfers into "legal" camps were also under way in Rome.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/European+slam+France+over+deportation+Romas/3495348/story.html

---

Don't think Sarkozy really cares what the Liberal, Socialist, Green and Communist political groups think about his policy of deporting the Roma. Sarkozy is after the right wing voters from the National Front to halt his slide in the polls.

[defendandprotect]

1. Also a successful distraction from the strikes going on????

[pampango]

2. Some of the protesters have been quoted that include the expulsion of the Roma among the Sarkozy

policies that they are protesting. The main focus of the protests is the rise in the retirement age, but many of them are unhappy with many of his policies, not just the retirement age increase.

[defendandprotect]

6. Maybe I misread --

Aren't there accusations that some of the French protesters want the removal of Roma?

That's the propaganda I'm referring to -- I thought!!

[Lightning Count]

3. Easy solution. The MP's should offer sanctuary to the Roma in their countries nt.

[pampango]

4. I think it's just EU countries which are run by conservatives, like France and Italy, that have been

deporting Roma. Apparently countries run by liberals and socialists already do provide "sanctuary" (if open borders to all Europeans can be termed "sanctuary" to a certain group of Europeans).

At least the conservatives in France and Italy haven't gone as far as the far-right Jobbik in Hungary that wants to put the Roma in camps.

http://www.euronews.net/2010/09/03/hungarian-far-right-want-roma-forced-into-camps

"The leading far right Jobbik party has added its voice to others in Europe speaking out in favour of the French government’s Roma deportation policy.

Gabor Staudt, a candidate in upcoming local elections in Hungary, outlined what Jobbik calls public protection camps. He said: “This new institution would solve the lack of prison capacity.”

[Lightning Count]

5. Not exactly.

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100819-29267.html

[pampango]

7. Hah, but the Roma Sarkozy is deporting are not refugees from the Balkan wars.

France is deporting citizens of EU countries who, because of the EU's open borders, can turn around and return to France legally if they desire. If the Roma that France is deporting were citizens of a non-EU country, Sarkozy would have a much firmer legal footing for his actions. As it is, Sarkozy is just doing this to play to his conservative base and win votes from the far right National Front voters.

Germany, in the story you linked to, is returning refugees (most but not all of whom are Roma) that it accepted during the Balkan wars, in accordance with an agreement with the Kosovar government.

[Lightning Count]

8. So Germany slides due to a loophole?

I am curious how many Roma in France have any evidence they are citizens of the country they are being returned to.

Worth noting that Germany has been doing this for a long time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/world/europe/18iht-roma.html

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. Goodbye, you bigot fuck.

[BillH76]

9. Gypsies tried to pick my pocket twice in ten minutes on the Metro.

Same M.O. in both cases. One of them dropped a bunch of stuff on the floor to distract me, and the other one tried to pick my pocket.

How do I know they were Gypsies? That's what the cops told me. I am NOT saying that all Gypsies are thieves, but there is a big crime problem with Gypsies in Europe. That's also what the cops told me. Why should I believe French cops? Well, lots of other Europeans have said the same thing--including people I know in Spain. Perhaps the high crime rate among Gypsies is due to their low socio-economic status in European countries. Or there may be a feedback relationship involved.

I realize that it is politically incorrect to say this stuff, and I expect this message to be deleted. But in the interests of free dialogue, I decided to say this anyway. As J.S. Mill said, if an unpopular opinion is suppressed, the received view becomes an unreasoned dogma.

[Nihil]

10. FWIW

> Perhaps the high crime rate among Gypsies is due to their
> low socio-economic status in European countries.

Part of the perception of "their low socio-economic status in European
countries" is due to the way that they deliberately stay "under the radar" ...
they don't pay tax, they don't pay National Insurance, they don't have car
insurance, *most* don't pay car tax (vehicle excise duty), they have no
fixed address, they don't fill in any electoral role forms, *most* don't
appear on any census forms ...

If you're invisible, you are not going to be seen as anything other than
"low socio-economic status" by such reports, regardless of how much money
you have or new your possessions are ...

:shrug:

[HankyDubs]

11. Hey it would be nice if you didn't use ethnic slurs

Thanks!

[Regret My New Name]

16. Does the word offend you or do you assume others would be offended by it?

Might wanna read this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_%28term%29#Gypsy

[GETPLANING]

13. For those of you who have never lived in Europe,

Let me tell you, Romas are a real pain in the neck. They are the most amazingly skilled thieves you have ever encountered. Masterful pickpockets and scam artists. It IS part of their cultural identity. I once saw a young Roma woman carrying a little child on her shoulder begging on a street in Barcelona. She looked and sounded so pitiful, I gave her €10. She started following me down the sidewalk, singing this pitiful song, "Can you give me a little more, I am so pitiful and desperate, just another €10, please, sir, please..." on and on.
I stopped and asked for my €10 back. She went grovelling away. The most amazing ACT I have ever seen. A few days later, I saw the same girl carrying a DIFFERENT child, in a different part of the city, hitting the American tourists up. The stories I could tell you about my American friends who come to Spain to visit and get CLEANED OUT by these people are both amusng and astonishing.
No, if you have ever had experiences with "Roma" you would't have any pity for them.

[bc3000]

12. Most Americans really have no idea.

By our standards, they would be considered more of an organized crime syndicate than an ethnic minority.

[Vehl]

15. Part of the Roma's economic woes are due to discrimination as well

Many seem to blame the Roma for engaging in quite a lot of nefarious activities....but in a lot of cases, Roma have a hard time joining the mainstream due to the negative perception others have about Roma...this results in difficulties getting jobs...etc etc...a vicious cycle

Also I would like to add that the Hatred of Roma was quite common in Europe...and not many mourned the death of Roma under Hitler...

Donald Niewyk and Frances Nicosia write that the death toll was at least 130,000 of the nearly one million Roma and Sinti in Nazi-controlled Europe. Michael Berenbaum writes that serious scholarly estimates lie between 90,000 and 220,000.

A detailed study by the late Sybil Milton, formerly senior historian at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, calculated a death toll of at least 220,000 and possibly closer to 500,000, but this study explicitly excluded the Independent State of Croatia where the genocide of Romanies was intense. Martin Gilbert estimates a total of more than 220,000 of the 700,000 Romani in Europe.

Ian Hancock, Director of the Program of Romani Studies and the Romani Archives and Documentation Center at the University of Texas at Austin, has argued in favour of a higher figure of between 500,000 and 1,500,000.Hancock writes that, proportionately, the death toll equaled "and almost certainly exceed, that of Jewish victims."

Not many think of the Roma when they think of Hitler's atrocities....but it sure was a holocaust like no other for the Roma.

:(