{"id":1373,"date":"2013-07-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/05-07-2013-the-french-policies-on-rroma\/"},"modified":"2022-07-24T15:12:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T14:12:33","slug":"05-07-2013-the-french-policies-on-rroma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/05-07-2013-the-french-policies-on-rroma\/","title":{"rendered":"05.07.2013 The French Policies on Rroma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lib\u00e9ration (2013) reports on the polemical \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstatements of the Honorary President o the Front National, Jean-Marie Le Pen, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfather of the current President Marie Le Pen. Le Pen described France as a Wild \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWest, which is conquered by westward migrating Rroma, a migration that will certainly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tincrease from the beginning of 2014, when the new EU Persons Agreement enters \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinto force. For Nice alone, he predicts an influx of 50,000 Rroma at least in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014. With these statements, he trumped all forecasts and politicians who speak \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof a mass migration to obtain welfare in Western European countries. That \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmigration is not only a result of economic circumstances, but may also have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcauses such as social disintegration, political hostility or lack of training \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\topportunities and, that due to the local and family integration of the people, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcannot be seen simply seen as a lump mass exodus. Politicians who argue by the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlogic of national methodologies, and to reduce people to economical and social factors, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmassively simplify the complexity of human interactions and motivations.<\/p>\n

The forced evictions of informal Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcamps continues. Dufresne (2013) reports on the official closure of one of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlargest Rroma camps in Southern Lille, which is planned for mid-September 2013. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the grounds where the camp is located, a factory of the shoe company \u201cEssensol\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis being planed. As part of \u200b\u200bthe evacuation plan, the surface of the camp is is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgradually being curbed. Between 500 and 800 people live in the area. Desplos \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) informs on the eviction of an occupied house in Bacalan in Bordeaux. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tResidents will be handed over to the French immigration authorities and returned \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto their home countries. To prevent the re-claiming of the granted return \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tassistance, the deported people are being registered in a database with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbiometric data. The inhabitants of a neighbouring camp are luckier: They are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tenjoying social help to assist them in integrating into the labour market and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin the search for their own accommodation.<\/p>\n

Radio France Internationale (2013) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taddresses the broader, government evictions of slums and squats in France. As \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdetailed in other articles, Radio France criticised the discrepancy between the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstatements of politicians on integration and the effective implementation of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe plans. Thus, the circular letter of August, 2012, which asked for a better \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinformation residents of the camps and timely organization of alternative \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taccommodation, is almost never applied. Pascale Quiviy of \u201cTerre solitaire\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcriticised that the political will of several ministers to integrate Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbetter is being frustrated by the French Interior Minister. He appealed in this \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tregard to greater conformity with the party programs that should be applied by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\telected representatives: \u201cPour le minist\u00e8re de l’Int\u00e9rieur, montrer sa fermet\u00e9 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\test important, et il est populaire pour \u00e7a. Mais il y\u00a0 a un manque de courage de la part de la majorit\u00e9 pour mettre \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ten vigueur des valeurs sur lesquelles pourtant la majorit\u00e9 a \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9lue. Des \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvaleurs de solidarit\u00e9, d’ouverture, de tol\u00e9rance, donc une bonne politique \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcourageuse serait de prendre ces sujets \u00e0 bras le corps et agir.<\/em>\u201d [For the interior ministry, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto show firmness is paramount and he is popular for that reason. But there is a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlack of courage on the side of the majority to implement the values for which \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey were actually elected. Values of solidarity, openness, tolerance, so \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvalues that good and courageous policies should grab and act on.]<\/em><\/p>\n

The politician Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Schauspierin Caroline Vigneaux argued in the show \u201cSalut les Terriens!\u201d on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe question of the integration of Rroma in France. While Vigneaux took a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsocial-democratic perspective of the protectionist, humanistic state, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDupont-Aignan took a generalising culturally justified negative position. He \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tused the oftenheard, false analogy of a link between Rroma culture and the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdelinquency of members of this minority. He further criticized Romania\u2019s \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinability to integrate Rroma successfully despite EU aid and called the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRomanian state as being corrupt (Lambert 2013).<\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ois (2013) emphasizes that around \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5,000 Rroma of informal settlements or occupied houses were evicted in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsecond quarter of 2013. This represents about a quarter of the estimated 20,000 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma in France, although the reliability of this figure is highly doubtful. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOther estimates go from 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma in France. However, these \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\testimates are not only based on the so-called \u201cvisible\u201d Rroma living in slums \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tor occupied houses, but also the \u201cinvisible\u201d ones, who live more or less well integrated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin France. Demands for more efforts to integrate Rroma versus demands for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmassive deportations back to Romania and other countries of origin continues to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdivide the views.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n