Category Archives: France

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07.02.2014 France: the one-sided focus on slums and evictions continues

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Vermorel (2014) of the Midi Libre spoke to the prefect of Nîmes, Didier Martin. Martin called for the residents of an illegal settlement next to the Saint-Gilles highway to leave the place immediately. The argument was enforced with police presence. Only recently before this, the collective Solidarité Roms, was assured by Julie Bouaziz, the head of the cabinet of Nîmes, that there was no set date for the eviction. Martin indicates in the interview that the eviction is not only done for regulatory reasons, but primarily because of the railway project “Oc’via”, which is disturbed by the settlement. In March, a judgment by the district court of Nîmes was issued calling for the families to immediately leave the area in question. The construction company Oc’via agreed in their own negotiations with the families that they could stay on the area until December 2013. Now the company has suggested a replacement area to the families, not far from the current location, in order that the children can continue to go to school. – A major part of the French press focuses exclusively on problem cases that arise in connection with Rroma. That there integrated Rroma living in France, ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 people, depending on the estimates, is almost never mentioned. Also, there are Gens du Voyage in France that form their own ethnic group and are not related to the Rroma. They took up a travelling lifestyle in response to the political upheavals in Europe in the 15th century. Most Rroma are permanently sedentary (see Duret 2014 Midi Libre 2014).

In Villeurbanne, the police evicted an occupied house with around 100 Romanian Rroma, the newspaper Libération (2014) reports. Half of the residents are children. The prefecture asked for the re-housing of families with children under the age of three: “The organisation in charge did not know if all families would be relocated, saying that a census by the department direction of social cohesion had previously been made to find solutions. “The prefect of Rhone requested the relocation of families with children under three years,” the prefecture indicated.”  

Bertrand (2014) reports from a slum on the outskirts of Marseille, where around 20 Rroma families try to integrate and are at risk of forced evictions. Cendrine Labaume from Médecins du monde reports that Rroma are increasingly victims of acts of violence committed by uninhibited residents: “the Roma are by far the most affected by the violence. National and local political discourses have uninhibited speech, and sometimes acts.” The statement is followed by spiteful and openly racist comments from residents of the settlement, who complain about dirt, noise and lack of adaptation of the Rroma and openly display their disrespect. The resident Rroma try to live in an as dignified way as possible. The order inside the huts is not seen from the outside, only the disorder. The increasing neglect of the settlements is partly due to the high frequency of evictions that hinder the establishment of an appropriate infrastructure, which leads to illegal tapping of electricity and water. The evictions are said to have somewhat improved since the interministerial circular from the 26th of August 2012. The government and aid organizations are now supposed to keep a minimal standard of hygiene, health care and safety in the settlements. However, according to Bertrand, this support meets the opposition of many local residents, who want to get rid of the Rroma.

Courtel (2014) of Nordéclair reports on a newly created Rroma settlement in Roncq, in northern France. Her article highlights the usual picture: Enraged residents, led by the mayor Vincent Ledoux, impoverished Rroma and the will to get rid of them as soon as possible. Courtel does not even tries to contextualize, but limits herself entirely to the reporting of “facts” about the occupation of the location, which was tolerated by the supra-regional and national authorities. She perpetuates the notion of asocial, non-integrable Rroma: “Meanwhile, the camp becomes a sewer. This land has turned into open battle space, a dirty slum” [Vincent Ledoux]. Unrest has taken hold of the residents living closest and the employees of the commercial area. […] A complaint was filed to establish a “clearly defined timeframe” [for the eviction]. The court authorizes the use of public force. But the prefecture did not respond. The timeframe passes, it is impossible to implement an evacuation. During the municipal council of the 17th of December, the represent ask for the help of the Government… the request remains unanswered.”

Ouest-France (2014) reports in a short article on three Rroma settlements in Saint-Herblain that were searched by the police. The occasion for the comprehensive police control was the theft of metal and metal cables that is attributed to Rroma from the settlements. As a result of the raid a Rrom was temporarily arrested. By not reflecting about discrimination against the Rroma, this article perpetuates ethnic stereotypes about criminal Rroma. Ethnic stereotypes build a great obstacle to the successful integration of this minority.

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31.01.2014 Media attention on immigrant Rroma in illegal settlements continues

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Huguenin (2014) of France 3 reports on a recently evicted illegal settlement in Languedoc- Roussillon, near which Rroma have again resettled. The article reproduces – despite its emphatic perspective – a negative image of poor, uneducated Rroma, as the French right so often portrays.

In Val-de-Marne, a Rroma settlement with 1000 to 2000 inhabitants is being evicted. Residents were informed a week before the eviction about the upcoming action. The majority of the children are enrolled in Bonneuil. This clearance challenges the continued schooling of minors (Le Parisien 2014/I). The one-sided media focus on Rroma in slums increases the biased public impression that all Rroma live in such conditions. It is constantly neglected that there are many Rroma in France who lead an integrated and unobtrusive life.

The mayor of Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Luc Jousse, doesn’t have to fear any sanctions from his party, the UMP, which dropped all charges against the mayor. Jousse had stated in December 2013, that a fire in a Rroma settlement was reported too early to the authorities, which from his point of view was a pity. For this tasteless statement, Jousse had been suspended until further notice (Le Parisien 2014/II , Francetv info 2014 Nice Matin 2014/I, Nice Matin 2014/II).

Guévart (2014) from the Courrier Picard meanwhile mocks himself without shame about the fate of the Kosovar Rroma girl Leonarda and her family. He accuses the left-wing supporters of the family of blind humanitarianism and sees the rejection of the asylum application as a just conclusion to this matter: “The left has criticized the evictions as being managed like an industry in the era of Sarkozy-Guéant, being continued now in its his own camp [through Manuel Valls]. What now? Not applying the law to avoid controversy? Hold a press conference to reach out to a teenager who stands up to the president of the French state, and offer her … what to do? Home, studies, all expenses paid by whom?” Guévart is totally indifferent towards the situation Rroma face in Kosovo. He doesn’t care that they are confronted with the aftermath of the civil war and all its consequences.

Paupe (2014) meantime questions the effectiveness of the French migration policy regarding Rroma. Manuel Valls ordered 20,000 deportations of Rroma in 2013. The number of foreign Rroma in France meanwhile stays around 17,000 people. The numbers are misleading because the same people were often deported multiple times, the author states. The organization Romeurope criticizes the usefulness of a rigorous deportation policy. What is really wanted is constructive solutions, improving the conditions of all actors involved. To only remind continuously of the necessity to cut down public spending isn’t solving anything, Umberto Guerra from Romeurope criticized. The evictions indeed exacerbate the long-term improvement of the life situation of those affected. They complicate a regulated access to health, education, and labour institutions.

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31.01.2014 The Rroma in France and French politics

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The Schweizer Fernsehen (2014) discussed the rejection of the asylum application of the Kosovar Rroma family Dibrani as well as the French asylum policies and regulatory measures concerning Rroma. The uncompromising deportation of the family had resulted in numerous demonstrations against the French asylum policies, which were denounced as inhumane. The articles addresses both the political instrumentalisation of the Rroma and the invisible, integrated Rroma in France that are not discussed in the media: “The group of Roma comprises a total of around 10 million people, of which about 400,000 live in France. Most Roma are well-integrated French citizens and are employed. Only a minority of around 15,000 Roma is living in precarious conditions.”

The NZZ (2014) complements that the French administrative court rejected the request of family Dibrani to asylum on the grounds that the parents didn’t show any efforts to integrate in France. The family’s last legal change is an appellate court. Leonarda criticized the authorities for not considering her family’s real life situation in their decision. She stated that she didn’t see any future for herself in the Kosovo, and that France was her home (compare Tagesspiegel 2014 , Swiss Television 2014/II ) 

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24.01.2014 Christian Vanneste rages against the EU and against the Rroma

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Christian Vanneste (2014) UMP politician and former member of the Rassemblement pour la République a party originally founded by Charles de Gaulle, rages in his latest article against the European Union and the Rroma. He uses the metaphor of a sinking ship in order to make fun of the impact of the European Union and the immigrants on France. Vanneste advocates a completely sealed off France that determines his policies alone and restricts immigration. He is especially angry with the regulation that Rroma have a right of co-determination as members of the European Union. Vanneste outs himself with his statements as an arch-conservative politician who favours a France only for the French. He is not too far away from the demands of the Front National. The right-wing party also calls for a completely closed off France: “Des “Roms” se sont inscrits à Villeurbanne, alors qu’on a des raisons d’être inquiet de cette immigration, de ses motivations et de ses conditions. Cerise sur le gâteau: ces  campeurs bénéficient d’une domiciliation grâce à leur inscription à l’AME synonyme de totale gratuité des soins sans cotisation.” [Rroma registered in Villeurbanne, all the while we have reasons to fear this immigration, its motivation and conditions. Cherry on the cake: these campers are entitled to free health care without any contribution due to their attestation of domicile with the AME.] In contrast to Vanneste’s remarks. the importance of a united Europe with open borders has to be emphasised. Restrictive policies and sealed borders do not solve problems but create new ones. The Rroma integration is a pan-European task requiring a pan-European commitment.

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24.01.2014 Discrimination of Rroma in Europe continues

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The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (2014) published is “World Report 2014” on the discrimination of the Rroma in the European Union. The report notes that the Rroma are still victims of massive exclusion. They are the main victims of the significant increase in right-wing policies and politicians, together with immigrants and homosexuals. For Germany, this means that Rroma migrants are being confronted with strong prejudices and that the deportation practices do not verify the conditions and discrimination in countries of origin like the Kosovo. France has set a new record in evictions during 2013: around 13,000 Rroma were evicted from their informal settlements during the period of January to September. In Greece, Human Rights Watch critiques the continuing segregation of Rroma in public schools. Additionally, the Rroma are being illegally persecuted and monitored by the authorities. For Croatia, the organisation criticised the exclusion of Rroma from public institutions such as schools, hospitals and social institutions. In Romania, the Rroma are still victims of numerous evictions and are generally disadvantaged in public life. A particularly bad assessment befalls Hungary, when it comes to the integration of Rroma. The report notes: “Roma were faced also last year with discrimination and harassment. The mayor of the city Ozd in northern Hungary separated Roma settlements with an estimated 500 families from the public water network. In January, the European Court of Human Rights judged Hungary guilty of discriminating two Rroma students, because the authorities had placed them in special schools. In July, the court upheld the decision of a prohibition on the Hungarian Guard, an extremist group agitating against Jews and Rroma. In August, a Budapest court convicted four men for murder, who had been involved in racist attacks in the years 2008 and 2009, in which six Roma had been killed, including a child.” As long as the economic conditions in Europe remain poor, the Rroma face an unfavourable fate. They are the first to suffer from social ills. It is much to be hoped that the bad tradition of centuries-old discrimination against the minority will soon be consigned to history.

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24.01.2014 Gilles Bourdouleix was condemned for his tasteless joke on Holocaust

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Gilles Bourdouleix, mayor of the French city of Cholet, was sentenced on January 23rd  to a suspended fine of 3000 Euro. The prosecutor had requested a sentence of 6 years of emprisonment and a fine of 500 euro. Last Fall, in the presence of a journalist, Bourdouleix said: „que Hitler n’en [les roms] avait peut-être pas tué assez.” [That Hitler did not kill enough of them].  That, while he was trying to resolve a conflict with local travellers who were illegally camping on a field. Bourdouleix had to resign from the Union des démocrates et indépendants due to his statements (Fait-religieux 2014, Le Figaro 2014).

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24.01.2014 Notions of criminal Rroma clans persist

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Morel (2013) reports on decreasing rates of crimes that are apparently being committed by southern European Rroma clans. This isn’t supposed to mean that the numbers of offenses have effectively decreased, but that the offenders act more skilfully and unobtrusively, according to Morel. They are apparently acting in a more focused way, renting less rooms in cheap hotels, they are scattered in public transport to attract less attention. Recently, the suspects were mainly minor Rromnja in groups of two. For Morel and his informants there is no doubt that there are internationally organized Rroma clans behind these activities: „Les équipes de tziganes, qui agissent jusqu’à cinq fois par jour, ont également renouvelé leur manière de transporter leur butin, constitué d’argent et de bijoux. Désormais, elles n’hésitent pas à se l’insérer dans le sexe pour passer la frontière. Selon la police, elles font partie d’un réseau international qui pourrait être basé en Belgique, en région parisienne ou dans l’est de la France. Les délinquantes vivent la plupart du temps dans des camps de roms.” [These teams of Gypsies (Sic!), who act up to five times a day, also renewed their methods for transporting their bounty, mostly money and jewellery. They do not hesitate to put them in their sex in order to cross the border. According to the police, they are part of an international band possibly based in Belgium, in Paris, or in Eastern France. The criminals mostly live in Rroma camps.] Guggisberg (2014) also feeds the notions of criminal, organised Rroma clans, smuggling stolen goods over the Switzerland-Italian border. Once again it must be stressed that Rroma are not more delinquent than people of other ethnic groups. The idea of organised Romany clans feeds absurd and false ideas of culturally-related crimes. These assumptions are stupid and should be relegated ad acta.

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24.01.2014 The Rroma and the integration debate in France

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Le Nouvel Observateur (2014) reports on the lawsuit on the right of residence for the family of Leonarda Dibrani, whose deportation made national media coverage last autumn and led to strong criticism of French migration policies. The spokesman of the French administrative court stated that the application of the Dibrani family for a residence permit will be most likely rejected. The final verdict is still pending. The court criticised that Mr. and Mrs. Dibrani could not point to any real integration efforts. They isolated themselves and Mrs. Dibrani cannot speak any French, the court added. Leonarda and her family nonetheless still hope to be granted a residence permit for the whole family. France was her home, not the Kosovo, Leonarda stated. Also, she doesn’t speak any Albanian, which makes her integration in the Kosovo more difficult than in France. 

Dubasque (2014) takes the events of Leonarda as an opportunity to reflect on the French Rroma policies. The approximately 15,000 Rroma in France are and were the target of a rigorous order-policy, which takes no account of their historical exclusion and marginalization. The Rroma are being represented – Dubasque criticizes –  as if they uphold illegal migration, are not willing to work and want to live in degrading conditions voluntarily. Poverty is therefore being ethnicized: „Si l’on peut comprendre les problèmes que ces occupations sauvages peuvent poser aux maires et aux riverains, il convient de rappeler que ces installations constituent des occupations par défaut, conséquence du manque d’hébergements et de logements accessibles aux personnes à très faible revenu […].“ [While one can understand the issues of these illegal occupations can cause to mayors and to neighbours, one needs to state that these occupations occur by default, as a consequence of the lack of housing for people with very low income]. The continuing evictions of Rroma from illegal settlements strongly impairs their access to educational and health institutions and the labour market. Because basic human rights are withheld from them, for many Rroma, a successful integration is a highly demanding task.

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24.01.2014 Refutation of the prejudices against Rroma

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The Rroma organization “Romeurope” republished its booklet “Les Roms: luttons contre les idées recues”. The organization argues against the most stubborn prejudices that are spread about the Rroma immigrants from Eastern Europe: 1. They have no right to stay in France. This statement is incorrect because most European countries now are members of the Schengen area and Rroma are entitled as citizen of these countries to make use of the free migration policy. 2. The Rroma love to live in slums. Wrong, poor Rroma live in informal settlements in the suburbs because of lack of alternatives. This has nothing to do with their identity. 3. The Rroma are nomads. Also wrong. The Rroma are forced by evictions to change their location. The majority of the Rroma are sedentary. 4. They only want to live amongst their own clan. Wrong, the Roma live in family groups to be able to help each other and to master their often precarious living conditions. 5. Rroma do not want to work. Wrong, the Rroma are working as hard as other people. However, their access to the labour market is still very restricted. Institutional racism against the Rroma is still prevalent in many European countries. 6. Rroma prefer to beg. Also wrong. Due to the precarious economic situation of many immigrant Rroma and lack of alternatives many are forced to beg. 7. Rroma do not want to send their children to school. Wrong, often complicated regulations do prevent the enrolment of young Rroma. The regular evictions hinder an undisturbed schooling. 8. The Rroma are carriers of disease and bring diseases to France. Wrong, the precarious hygienic conditions in the informal camps and poor access to health care make immigrant Rroma susceptible to disease. 9. The Rroma are social parasites and exploit the French welfare state. Also wrong, most foreign Rroma have very poor access to public institutions (Romeurope 2014).

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24.01.2014 The French Rroma policy and the mayoral elections 2014

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Le Nouvel Obervateur (2014) reports on the increasingly restrictive Rroma policy in connection with the upcoming mayoral elections. The French mayors, the article states, see themselves in a clinch between a vastly Rroma-hostile electorate and the need for a just social policy. Mayors who work for the integration of the Rroma are putting their re-election at stake: „Mais à quelques mois des élections, les mairies refusent pour la plupart d’ouvrir de nouveaux villages d’insertion ou terrains aménagés. “Ce n’est plus jouable maintenant: un maire qui veut se faire réélire, s’il dit “je vais accueillir trois familles roms”, il perd déjà pas mal de voix”, note Bruno Mattéi, de l’association ATD Quart Monde en métropole lilloise.” [But a few months away from the elections, the mayors’ offices refuse to open new insertion villages or to open newly laid plots of land. “this is no longer possible now: a mayor who wants to be re-elected, if he says “I want to settle three Rroma families”, he looses quite a few votes”, notes Bruno Mattei, of the ADT Quart Monde association in the Lille agglomeration.” The socialist mayor Frédéric Marchand has for example received massive threats after he let several Rroma families stay on some unuse space. If a majority of French politicians agree to an opportunistic policy of the majority opinion, the long-term integration of the Rroma will be significantly delayed and aggravated (compare to La Voix du Nord 2014).

François Hollande meanwhile defends the French policies towards Rroma. It is essential – he argued – to enforce the laws and to clear illegal camps. The French government, Hollande emphasized, is well aware of the plight of many Rroma immigrants (Romandie 2014).

Le Monde (Vincent 2014) adds that the restrictive Rroma policies of the French government have not changed the number of Rroma residents in France. Moreover, the living conditions of the Rroma have deteriorated significantly: „Toutes les enquêtes ont démontré que les expulsions n’avaient pas fait baisser le nombre de Roms en France – de l’ordre de 15 000 en France, un chiffre stable – et qu’elles avaient surtout participé à dégrader leurs conditions de vie sanitaires et sociales.“ [All surveys have demonstrated that expulsions haven’t reduced the number of Rroma in France – a number of the order of 15,000 in France and stable – but that the expulsions have contributed to degrade their sanitary and social conditions.] The report of the League of Human Rights and the European Roma Rights Center criticized in particular the deportation policy of the French authorities. The real aim of the French Rroma policies was to send as many Bulgarian and Romanian Rroma as possible back to their homelands. The fact that there are also many integrated Rroma living in France, who are never heard of in the media, is once again ignored. The circular of Jean-Marc Ayrault from the summer of 2012, which demanded a more humane approach to evictions, has been predominantly neglected till today: There is a lack of political will among prefectures, mayors and other institutional actors to apply the more human eviction methods (compare MYTF1 News 2014, Lombart 2014, Piquemal 2014, Vincent 2014/II). 

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17.01.2014 Increase in eviction of Rroma Settlements in France

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The European Roma Rights Centre (2014) states in its latest report a massive increase of evictions in France during the year 2013. According to the statistics of the organisation, the French authorities expelled, 20,000 Rroma from their informal dwellings. These are more than twice as many evictions as in 2012. According to the authors of the report it can be assumed that a lot more than estimated 20,000 were displaced, as information of the Human Rights League indicates. As before, the inter-ministerial circular from August 2012 was ignored by the responsible authorities. The circular favoured sound, planned evictions of the informal settlements. The methods now practiced complicate the integration of Rroma and promote racism and rejection of the minority rather than cooperation: „Forced evictions continued almost everywhere without credible alternative housing solutions or social support. NGOs and various institutions (such as the French Ombudsman) have highlighted that government policy is ignored – an interministerial circular of 26 August 2012, which ordered local authorities to carry out a social assessment of Roma in any eviction – is rarely implemented and superficial at best. It often resembles a population census rather than a real and lasting attempt at social inclusion.” Most evictions took place in the districts of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Ile-de-France. The findings of the European Roma Rights Centre are particularly astonishing when considering that the Socialist President Francoise Hollande had promised a major change in the French politics regarding Rroma (compare Al Jazeera America 2014, Sayare 2014).

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17.01.2014 Poverty-migration and the Rroma

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Nuspliger (2014) gives a cursory overview of the debate on poverty-migration and on the feared predictions of mass migrations to Western Europe. He qualifies the images of right-wing conservatives who predict a strong west migration from Romania and Bulgaria in 2014. Many residents of these countries migrated abroad in 2007 after the EU accession and did not wait for the unrestricted movement of persons. The statistics about the poverty-migration regularly treat seasonal workers and students as equivalent to real labour migrants and therefore create a distorted picture of migration movements. In addition it is observed that many would-be migrants go into countries with diaspora groups or related languages: “Against the backdrop of the northern European fears of a Romanian mass immigration it is remarkable that, according to Eurostat figures of 2012, over three quarters of exile Romanians have moved to Spain and Italy – for which there are also linguistic reasons. Half of relocated European Portuguese are living in France and three-quarters of the emigrants of Poland live in the UK and Germany, which attracted many immigrants from Eastern Europe before the end of the licensing restrictions in 2011.” Rroma are being disadvantaged as before. The funding provided by the EU is only insufficiently used. Additionally, Rroma slums in Western Europe are the evidence of the lack of integration of this ethnic group. In the debates on immigration, meanwhile, images of social abuse dominate the discourse, which is taken up readily by polemicists.

Lübberding (2014) discusses the TV program “Maybrit Illner” on the topic “poverty on the move: how much freedom of movement can we afford?” The participants of the discussion were the Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann, the Green politician Cem Özdemir, the Councillor of Berlin-Neuköln Franziska Giffey, the head of the German police union  Rainer Wendt, the Duisburger citizen Sabine Kessler and the Rrom Dzoni Sichelschmidt. They discussed the pro and cons of unrestricted migration in the European Union. Lübbering shares the opinion that most of the immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria are Rroma, although the ethnicity is not recorded in the statistics. He states that in the city of Duisburg, with around 500,000 inhabitants, the 10,000 new immigrants are of Rroma origin. Lübberding takes side with the critics of unrestricted migration in the European Union when making fun of the integration targets of the European Union. He claims that the Union lacks sense of practice: “The error of the Brussels bureaucracy is not in their ambitious plans, but in the ignorance of their ambitiousness. On power-point slides just everything looks better than in the neighbourhood of Mrs. Kessler.” On the other hand it is a positive aspect of European networking that the problem of Rroma integration has now become a pan-European issue and no longer just concerns the countries with significant Rroma populations. Additionally, Lübberding qualifies the dimensions of immigration, which are anything but dramatic. Compared with the 1.2 million refugees who have fled from the civil war in Syria to Lebanon, the immigration to Germany is very modest. Dzoni Sichelschmidt emphasised the important fact that the Rroma have emerged in large part as losers from the events of 1989: the hostility towards them has risen. This circumstance is often neglected in Western Europe (compare ZDF 2014).

In debate about immigration, Kelec (2014) takes a right-wing conservative position. Additionally, with respect to Rroma, she present cultural arguments. She sees an unrestricted immigration as a failed policy of ignorance. Kelec accuses the left parties of downplaying the problems of reality and accusing right-wing populism of being responsible for everything. The Christian Democrats are supposed to insist stubbornly on their values. On Rroma she pretentiously claims: “The children of Sinti and Roma are left alone, in the Clans, medieval conditions often prevail [ … ]. Roma children are sent by their parents and clan chiefs to beg or work on the street – they are supposed to be in school. They also have an EU-wide right to childhood and education. In Roma families child-marriages and forced marriage is common – the right to independence and integrity must also apply for young girls and women. There can be no tradition of being above the constitution, even if some believe that medieval manners as “culture” are worthy of protection.” With these unwise generalizations Kelec discredits herself. She represents traditions and media cases as if they were deadlocked and universal. Her remarks are racist and offensive to a majority of the Rroma who do not follow these practices. Kelec reproduces uncritically polemical ideas about backwardness and exploitation that have nothing to do with the identity of the Rroma. Accusing Rroma living in poverty of their poverty as a crime is arrogant and stupid. Criticism of the traditions, which are no traditions, is no intelligent criticism.

Teigeler (2013) points out the important fact that the debate about unrestricted migration in the European Union is dominated by fears and irrational predictions. Before Poland’s accession to the Schengen area there were similar fears of a mass migration, which turned out to be unfounded. The discussion also often tends to forget the fact that with the immigrants also important needed professionals are recruited. Labelling immigrants sweepingly as poverty immigrants and benefit-freeloaders simplifies the complexity of reality too much: “With the multiple accusations that immigrants and in particular Roma from South Eastern Europe “will subvert the social system, old racist stereotypes are stoked”, criticized the speaker of the Green Party parliamentary group, Jutta Velte, on Tuesday (31/12/2013). “We need a more objective debate”, the representative urged.” 

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20.12.2013 Education crisis among Rroma in France?

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Kinne (2013) gives information on a creeping crisis in the Paris suburbs: According to his article, just 10 % of Rroma children living in a illegal or informal camp go to school. The majority of South Eastern Europe originating Rroma who live in a makeshift barracks and camps prefer this to the poverty and discrimination in their home countries. This perspective of events should give pause to the vehement opponents of Rroma. According to a French government report says the author, about a third of Rroma children who live in theses camps, are not enrolled in school: “Aaccording to a government report, in the entire country, only one third of Roma children living in illegal camps go to school. Even though all children aged six to 16 years who live in France are required to attend school. The rest falls through the net, never registers or fails because of the high barriers to enrolment. Families have, for example, to specify a fixed address. Impossible, if you live in an illegal camp.” Besides the problem of the missing address, there are official reservations about Rroma, as well as the danger of being evicted in the near future from one’s current place of residence. Then there is the fear of many parents that their children could be discriminated against in schools. Without a good education, it will not be easier for the next generation to break the vicious circle of poverty and exclusion. That should make us think. On the other hand, there are also quite well-integrated Rroma in France, which are completely ignored in the current debate. They should have a voice.

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20.12.2013 France: Policy of Isolation or Cooperation?

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Christian Vanneste (2013), a politician of the conservative UMP, argues in Les Observateurs against a liberal foreign policy for France. He takes a statistic about the crimes committed by foreigners in 2012 offenses as an opportunity to advocate a rigorous segregation policy. The number of illegal migrants living in France Rroma is already alarmingly high: 15,000, or perhaps three times as many. With its radical planning policy, Vanneste is opposed to any forward-looking society in which people of all backgrounds coexist peacefully with each other. Instead, he argues flimsily for foreclosure policies. The fact that there is no culture of delinquency seems far from clear to him. Instead he criminalises people who are affected by poverty and exclusion: “Il y a 10% d’immigrés en France, et 18% d’étrangers parmi les détenus de nos prisons. Qu’il y ait un lien entre insécurité et immigration est une évidence. Il y en a deux autres : il est nécessaire de limiter l’immigration au minimum et l’on ne peut absolument pas compter sur l’Europe actuelle pour nous y aider”. [There are 10% of immigrants in France and 18% amongst the prison population. That there is a link between insecurity and immigration is obvious. There are two others: It is necessary to limit immigration to a minimum and one absolutely cannot count on current Europe to help us.]

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20.12.2013 Jean-Marie Le Pen Sentenced for Defamation of Rroma

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The founder of the conservative party “Front National”, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was sentenced by a Paris court to a fine of 5000 euro. Le Pen referred to Rroma at a party meeting of the National Front as a natural thieves: “Roma would “naturally fly like birds ” – the French word “voler” means both “fly” and “steal”” Le Pen statements are symptomatic of a variety of prejudices against Rroma that are stubbornly maintained and which promote their exclusion (Spiegel, 2013, Les Observateurs 2013).

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13.12.2013 The Tale of the Thieving Rroma Clans

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20 Minuten (2013) reports about two young girls who were arrested by the policie in Lucerne while trying to break into a house. Apparently, the girls come from a Roma camp in France. This short news confirms and is in line with the suspicion expressed in the Weltwoche (Gut, Philipp / Scherrer, Lucien 2013). In its article from early November it again talked of a “culture of crime”, which is brought into Switzerland by the Rroma. Articles with ethnic attributions that are not contextualized do promote racism towards an already heavily marginalized minority. More sensitivity in handling ethnic attributions would be highly desirable.

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13.12.2013 Rroma Debate in France

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France Info (2013), on the occasion of the statements made by Florian Philippot, vice-president of the right-wing National Front, focuses on whether after the free movement of people agreement with Romania and Bulgaria, there will be in fact large numbers of Rroma who will come to France. The author denies that there will be a noticeable change. Already, members of Romania and Bulgaria can freely migrate to France. They are only limited in their choice of fields of work. This barrier will be abolished in January 2014. However, there are still border and identity checks, as Romania and Bulgaria are still not part of the Schengen Agreement. In addition, the numbers that Florian Philippot states, he speaks of 10 to 12 million Rroma in Romania and Bulgaria, are completely over the top. In Romania according to realistic estimates there are about 2 million Rroma while  in Bulgaria around 800,000.

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13.12.2013 European Rroma Policies: A Sobering Result at Year End

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Riesbeck (2013) discusses the prospects of the European Rroma policies, which are aimed at the promotion of Rroma in the areas of education, health, employment, and housing. The results of theses policy is meanwhile sobering. The current project that has now been running for two years does not get the ball rolling. One of the reasons for the lack of success stories is the lack of legal means of the EU administration: “The States indicate their goals in the Roma strategy, but the European Commission has no legal basis to call for the implementation of these objectives and make them binding.” therefore, the European Rroma policies fall to bureaucratic hurdles between EU policies and programs of the respective nation-states. In addition, Rroma are themselves insufficiently involved in the projects. One talks about and for them, but not with them. 7sur7 (2013) sees a fundamental problem in the voluntariness of the implementation of EU decisions on the part of the EU Member States.

Mappes-Niediek sees an alternative to increasing educational achievements among Rroma, something which does not necessarily guarantees a real improvement, in the creation of social funds to cover the basic needs of all EU residents. His thought stems from the fact that education alone cannot eliminate the discrimination by the majority society (Gędziorowski 2013).

Meanwhile, several Western European countries are trying to stem the migration of Rroma. Members of the EU Parliament again spoke against restrictive practices towards Rroma: “EU countries must stop illegal expulsion of Roma people and end ethnic profiling, police abuse and human rights violations perpetrated against them, says Parliament in a non-binding resolution adopted on Thursday. It assesses member states’ strategies to boost Roma integration and calls for more funds to prevent discrimination and reach small community projects” (European Parliament 2013). The undeniable tension between national political programs and pan-European plans are visible in particular also in the European Rroma policies. While the EU insists on integration and recognition, conservative politicians in Germany, France and Great Britain propagate an isolationist policy (see Flechter 2013).

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13.12.2013 Rroma Expulsions Continue in France

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The expulsions of Rroma from illegal settlements in France are continuing. Bergès (2013) tells of a group of families who are temporarily housed in a trade union house. The mood in the temporary housing is good, but the problem of future apartments remains. In this regard Bergès speaks of invisible social problems that the government likes to overlook: “Les personnes réfugiées à la bourse du travail sont vraiment oubliées, écrivait, le 7 décembre le collectif Roms de la bourse dans un communiqué. Depuis l’expulsion, on est en train de frapper devant les portes de la préfecture, de la mairie, du Parti socialiste. Et toutes les portes sont fermées. Nous sommes invisibles pour eux.” [The people who took refuge at the work exchange are literally forgotten, wrote on December 7th, the Rroma collective of the work exchange in a statement. Since the expulsion, we are knocking at all doors, prefecture, town hall, socialist party. And all doors are closed. We are invisible to them.] Many activists and representatives from French politics are against forced evictions. Although many of the informal dwellings are legally in fact illegal, evictions are in fact complicating the longer-term integration of the people more than anything else.

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13.12.2013 Rroma in Romania

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France Inter (2013) in its coverage, points out at the often precarious situation of Rroma in Romania. The image of the impoverished, often unemployed Rroma corresponds to the idea of a broad French public that Rroma are a burden to the French social security system. The official figures counts about 600,000 Rroma in Romania. It is likely, however, that there are rather about 2 million members of that minority. The problem in this report lies in a mix of poverty issues with an alleged culture of delinquency and mutual exploitation. That these ideas are wrong will sometime soon hopefully be clear to a wider public.

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