French expulsions now aimed at ‘Romanians’ and ‘Bulgarians’

In the first nine months of the year, France repatriated 6,562 Romanians and 910 Bulgarians, according to French Immigration Minister Eric Besson, who has stopped referring to them as Roma. EurActiv Romania reports.Apparently, expulsions of Roma by France continue unabated, but noticeably, France has ceased to refer to them by their ethnicity.
Besson announced that the French authorities had repatriated 1,476 Romanians and 227 Bulgarians by force, adding that in addition to those, 5,086 Romanians and 683 Bulgarians had accepted financial assistance to return home.
Paris provides 300 euros per adult and 100 euros per child …

Read more >

EU citizenship report 2010

The European Union’s Single Market is the cornerstone of more than 60 years of European integration. Barriers that once stopped goods and services from freely flowing from Lisbon to Helsinki have been torn down. Companies now benefit from a market of 500 million consumers. Consumers travelling abroad have seen dramatic cuts in mobile phone charges. A single currency has made shopping and travelling abroad effortless. Workers now benefit from extensive rights. People can work, study and live anywhere in the EU’s 27 Member States. While Europeans can be proud of these achievements, businesses and citizens also know that hurdles still …

Read more >

Romanian media report on controversial statement about European citizenship

Here is a translation of the statement, as quoted in the Romanian media
‘ They [the Roma] are Romanian citizens The notion of European citizens does not exist. Show me an ID card which says that the European citizenship exists. Do you have such a thing? Does it say European citizen on your ID card? No. It says Romanian citizenship and on my ID card it say French citizen. The notion of European citizen does not exist.’

The full story can be read on the MEDIAFAX website (in Romanian)
http://www.mediafax.ro/politic/henri-paul-romii-repatriati-sunt-cetateni-romani-notiunea-de-cetatean-european-nu-exista-7421654

France Deports EU Citizens

The deportation measures by the French government are covered in the European media. The EU Observer quotes Matthew Newman, spokesperson for the EU Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding saying that “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”.