Gypsies being flown home
The government has been accused of encouraging xenophobia as it charters planes to send gypsies to Romania
AS FRANCE prepares to send three charter planes to eastern Europe expelling gypsies, the government’s sudden crackdown on this racial group is causing concern.
Today a chartered plane is expected to take 79 people to their country of origin, Romania. Around 130 will be flown back tomorrow and around 160 next Thursday.
According to the government each person’s situation has been studied to confirm they do not qualify as legal residents in France. The expulsions follow closures of illegal gypsy camps.
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux has said he will be meeting a Romanian minister charged with reintegrating the expelled gypsies, Valentin Mocanu, next week to discuss the situation.
Relations are tense between France and Romania after Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Baconschi said there were risks of “xenophobic reactions” in France due to the government’s focus on the problem of illegal gypsy residents from eastern Europe.
A Bulgarian academic specialist, Ilona Tomova, has said she is “saddened that France, a country symbolic of democracy, is contributing to stigmatising gypsies.”
The European Commission says it is following developments “very attentively” to check France is not breaking free movement rules.
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Photo: www.flickr.com Joshua Davis
