Category Archives: France

Roma in Europe

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Roma in Europe

The European Union’s new strategy for combating discrimination against Roma, adopted on January 21, 2026, aims to address historical and institutional discrimination with more radical measures.

Roma, the largest ethnic minority in Europe, face significant socio-economic challenges, including high poverty rates and discrimination in access to education and healthcare.

The new strategy emphasizes education, equal rights, and political participation for Roma, while acknowledging the need to address broader societal issues that contribute to anti-Roma discrimination.

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Al the articles this week on Roma in France focused on two fires in two Roma camps in Nantes and Saint Herblain. In the “Prairie des Mauves” in Nantes, 10 hectares burnt down, most caravans were destroyed. In the other fire in Saint Herblain, nearly 8 hectares and several caravans burn down. Now nearly 200 people have nowhere to go.

According to the police, the fire in the Prairie des Mauves started when a car caught fire.

In Saint Herblain, one paper suggests that the Roma were invovled in planting canabis, although there are no proofs that the plants found were planted by Roma.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Not much this week in France about Roma. A concert titled “Vent d’Est” in the South of France; the closure of acamp near Nantes will not be closed before next spring; and finally, an article about the accusation by the rightist oppposition in Nantes, that Roma were registered to vote (which by the way in legal for EU citizen to vote in local elections in France.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

A few news this week on Roma in France. The usual, with a fire in a garbage dump on the site of  a former Roma camp; and a fight between Roma in Grenoble with iron bars and even a firearm. A Čeja Stojka Exhibition in Besançon. An interesting opinion piece on studies about Roma in France; and finally, an association which provides health care to Roma camps.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Many articles this week on the closure of what was deemed the largest Roma camp near Paris, in Stains. Out of 800 people living there, only 48 have received a re-lodging offer. A shame.

Near Nantes, in Saint Herblain, same issue: Camp closure but no alternative for its residents.

A fire near Paris on the former site of a Roma camp, implicitely attributed to them.

Then two intersting articlees, one on the commemoration of the internment of travellers in France during thed War, and the second, a reportage in a commune led by the extreme right, faced with the fact that many Bulgarian Roma live there, employed by the local farmers…

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

More news this week in France about Roma.  A reportage about Romanian Roma who have been expelled from France and are returning there; questions about the condemnatioin of France by the European Union; politics in the Nantes region following an accusation of having used Roma to win local elections; near Nantes, a camp being evacuated; in Westen France, a mayor condemned for having denied Roima water; and finally, the impact of the recent extreme heat in France on a settlement near Paris.

The Ivanovitch

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The Ivanovitch

This article speaks about the Ivanovitch (in its French spelling, originally Ivanović), a Roma family from the Vojvodina who emigrated to France and became famous there. The father, Jarko, is credited with the composition of the Roma hymn “Djelem Djelem”. His two sons, Slobodan and Petro were famous musicians under the name “Les Tziganes Ivanovitch”. Petro married Natacha Bielenberg, a Russian Romni whose mother, Raja was a famous dancer in the Theatre Romen in Moscow.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

News this week in France are still dominated by the fire on the site of the former Roma camp in Chambly. Its origins are unclear, and firefighters needed several days to extinguish it. The municipal opposition in Nantes accused the social services of having registered Roma to vote for the current socialist mayor. Also near Nantes, a mayor who was strongly opposing a housing scheme for Roma has now endorsed it because of the already spent money (so he says) but has introduced strong surveillance measures.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Not much in terms of news, but a very large number of articles about a fire in a former camp of Roma that was evacuated recently. The other topic, speaks about the “calvary” of an owner whose property has been squatted by Roma.

Concentration Camp

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Concentration Camp

Within the grounds of Coudrecieux castle (Sarthe), the ruins of a World War II internment camp for “nomads” still remain. On My 31st, associations of itinerant citizens called for it to be listed as a historical monument.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

The usual in the French press about Roma camps. A mayorof the town of Riys-Orangis, near Paris, pledges that no more Roma camops will be tolerated. And in another set of news, a yong man was found dead in a Roma camp after an overdose.

French Chronicle…

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French Chronicle…

The usual news this week in France regarding Roma. A fire in a camp near Nantes in Western France; a camp near Paris which “exasperates” neighbours; a criminal Rom cannot be expulsed from France as he is stateless; and finally, the case of a young Romani girl who disappeared near Paris in total indifference.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Not much this week in France about Roma. An article about the Roma anthem at the inauguration of the new Hungarian prime minister Peter Magyar; two Roma being judged for burglary; and a meeting in Paris to commemorate the genocide of the Roma.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Many articles this week about a very young mayor (23 years old) in Western France who is trying to get rid of a Roma camp on the coimmune, an conflict that boiled over with pro-Roma militiants  and with opposistion politicians.

Other than that, near Paris, a new camp on private grounds, and also near Paris, the police is accused of violence against Roma after on policeman shot a young dog in the head during a perquisition in the camp.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

A long article in the French Le Monde on the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust, and the fact that the French are relatively silent about it. Why are they still using “Tsiganes”?

Other news are more of the usual. An article about the so-called insertion vilalge near Nantes, in Western France; a neighbourhood in Lille is unhappy with a Roma camp; and a fire in Montpellier.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Lolita Cercel, the AI Romani Singer, managed to make it to the French press. So dit the Council of Europe. The rest is unfrotunately the usual, with Roma having been evicted near Nates in Western France, have nowhere to go. And in another place, Roma are being threatened with eviction.

Django Reinhardt Movie

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Django Reinhardt Movie

A movie from 2017 about Django Reinhardt. While other Sinti across Europe are persecuted, Django’s popularity allows him to feel safe – until the Nazis try to send him on tour to Germany. Django refuses. His Parisian lover helps him, his pregnant wife, and his mother go into hiding near the Swiss border. There he meets members of his extended family, who are also on the run. He plans to cross Lake Geneva into Switzerland, but the Nazis are hot on his heels.

Well, the Swiss denied him Entry …

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

French news last week were dominated with a reportage from TF1, state TV about how minors are exploited by Roma networks to maximise gains. Again, this might be part of the reality, but how it is presented is simply pandering to sterotypes and extrapolating to all Roma. In brief, a racist narrative.

Other news, the usual: closure of a camp near Orange, in the Sotuh of France, and a fight between Roma (according to the extreme right Breizh info).

France and the Genocide

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France and the Genocide

A Roma association is calling for France to recognize the genocide of the “Sinti, Gitans, Manouches, Yenish, and Travellers.” The association, represented by lawyer and writer Anina Ciuciu, great-granddaughter of Romanians deported during the Second World War, initiated a proposed resolution, which was placed on the agenda for April 8th in the European Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.

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