{"id":1734,"date":"2014-01-24T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/24-01-2014-the-french-rroma-policy-and-the-mayoral-elections-2014\/"},"modified":"2022-07-24T15:12:30","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T14:12:30","slug":"24-01-2014-the-french-rroma-policy-and-the-mayoral-elections-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/24-01-2014-the-french-rroma-policy-and-the-mayoral-elections-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"24.01.2014 The French Rroma policy and the mayoral elections 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Le \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNouvel Obervateur (2014) reports on the increasingly restrictive Rroma policy \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin connection with the upcoming mayoral elections. The French mayors, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticle states, see themselves in a clinch between a vastly Rroma-hostile electorate \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand the need for a just social policy. Mayors who work for the integration of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Rroma are putting their re-election at stake: \u201eMais \u00e0 quelques mois des \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00e9lections, les mairies refusent pour la plupart d’ouvrir de nouveaux villages \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\td’insertion ou terrains am\u00e9nag\u00e9s. \u201cCe n’est plus jouable maintenant: un maire \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tqui veut se faire r\u00e9\u00e9lire, s’il dit \u201cje vais accueillir trois familles roms\u201d, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\til perd d\u00e9j\u00e0 pas mal de voix\u201d, note Bruno Matt\u00e9i, de l’association ATD Quart \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMonde en m\u00e9tropole lilloise.\u201d [But \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta few months away from the elections, the mayors\u2019 offices refuse to open new \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinsertion villages or to open newly laid plots of land. \u201cthis is no longer \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpossible now: a mayor who wants to be re-elected, if he says \u201cI want to settle \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthree Rroma families\u201d, he looses quite a few votes\u201d, notes Bruno Mattei, of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tADT Quart Monde association in the Lille agglomeration.\u201d <\/em>The socialist mayor Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Marchand has for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texample received massive threats after he let several Rroma families stay on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsome unuse space. If a majority of French politicians agree to an opportunistic \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpolicy of the majority opinion, the long-term integration of the Rroma will be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsignificantly delayed and aggravated (compare to La Voix du Nord 2014).<\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ois \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHollande meanwhile defends the French policies towards Rroma. It is essential \u2013 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\the argued \u2013 to enforce the laws and to clear illegal camps. The French government, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHollande emphasized, is well aware of the plight of many Rroma immigrants (Romandie \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014). <\/p>\n

Le Monde \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Vincent 2014) adds that the restrictive Rroma policies of the French \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgovernment have not changed the number of Rroma residents in France. Moreover, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe living conditions of the Rroma have deteriorated significantly: \u201eToutes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tles enqu\u00eates ont d\u00e9montr\u00e9 que les expulsions n’avaient pas fait baisser le \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnombre de Roms en France \u2013 de l’ordre de 15 000 en France, un chiffre stable \u2013 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tet qu’elles avaient surtout particip\u00e9 \u00e0 d\u00e9grader leurs conditions de vie \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsanitaires et sociales.\u201c [All surveys have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdemonstrated that expulsions haven\u2019t reduced the number of Rroma in France \u2013 a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnumber of the order of 15,000 in France and stable \u2013 but that the expulsions \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thave contributed to degrade their sanitary and social conditions.] <\/em>The report of the League of Human Rights and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe European Roma Rights Center criticized in particular the deportation policy \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the French authorities. The real aim of the French Rroma policies was to send \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tas many Bulgarian and Romanian Rroma as possible back to their homelands. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfact that there are also many integrated Rroma living in France, who are never heard \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof in the media, is once again ignored. The circular of Jean-Marc Ayrault from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe summer of 2012, which demanded a more humane approach to evictions, has \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbeen predominantly neglected till today: There is a lack of political will among \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprefectures, mayors and other institutional actors to apply the more human \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teviction methods (compare MYTF1 News 2014, Lombart 2014, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPiquemal 2014, Vincent 2014\/II).\u00a0 <\/p>\n