Minister targets Romanians in Paris

A SERIES of controversial measures aimed at cutting crime by Romanian illegal immigrants in the capital has been announced.

Interior Minister Claude Guéant says he intends to send home Romanian minors, who, if they have no family, will be taken charge of by the Romanian state children’s service, which has recently been accredited as meeting international standards.

He also wants to put in place closer surveillance at entry points to the country – airports, stations etc - and closer police cooperation between France and Romania, notably in a bid to target “mafia” bosses in Romania who are said to mastermind much of the crime.

The plans coincide with a ban on begging on the Champs-Elysées, which is also said to be carried out mainly by Romanians.

It now results in police questioning, a €38 fine and possible criminal prosecution.

Police will be able to check people’s papers and, if they are not legally resident in France, to enforce repatriation.

The minister justified the measures by citing figures showing in the first seven months of the year 4,800 Romanians were questioned by police in connection with crimes compared to 2,500 in the same period last year.

The Paris police says there are links between begging and pick pocketing. About half of crimes by Romanian immigrants in Paris are committed by minors, often aged about 12 or 13, according to Mr Guéant.

“Enough is enough, it’s getting impossible for our citizens,” he said on a visit to the Champs-Elysées yesterday to meet shopkeepers, police and transport workers.

The Socialist Party has called the measures “disgraceful and stigmatising”.

The director of the Hors la Rue association, which helps foreign minors living on their own in Paris, called the plans “shocking” and said they were “illegal” because he said under French law a minor could not be deemed an illegal immigrant.