{"id":1812,"date":"2013-11-29T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/29-11-2013-manuel-valls-and-french-rroma-policies\/"},"modified":"2022-07-24T16:10:32","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T15:10:32","slug":"29-11-2013-manuel-valls-and-french-rroma-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/29-11-2013-manuel-valls-and-french-rroma-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"29.11.2013 Manuel Valls and French Rroma Policies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

L’ express \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) reports on the statements of the French Minister of the Interior Manuel \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tValls on the television station France Inter: Valls tried to downplay his \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpolemical statements from mid-September, \u201cManuel Valls a affirm\u00e9 qu’il n’avait “jamais \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdit” que les roms n’avaient pas vocation \u00e0 s’int\u00e9grer. “Je pense que \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tles Fran\u00e7ais ont parfaitement compris ce que je disais”, a-t-il ajout\u00e9. Le \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tministre de l’Int\u00e9rieur a ensuite nuanc\u00e9 ses pr\u00e9c\u00e9dentes d\u00e9clarations. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t“Dans ces campements, il y a bien s\u00fbr des familles roumaines ou bulgares \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tqui ont de vrais projets d’int\u00e9gration en France. Bien s\u00fbr”, a-t-il \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trectifi\u00e9.\u201d<\/em> [Manuel Valls affirmed that he \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cnever said\u201d that Roma did not want to integrate. \u201cI think that the French \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tperfectly understood what I said:, he added. The Interior Minister then nuanced \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\this preceding declarations. \u201cin these settlements, there are of course families \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom Romania or Bulgaria who have real integration projects in France. Of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcourse\u201d, he did add.]<\/em> These reassuring statements, however, should not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobscure the fact that Valls in fact Rroma flatly stated that they lack \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegration will and have a \u201ctendency to want return to Romania\u201d something that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbrought him an accusation of defamation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNew York Times (Rubin 2013) reports in a almost absurd article about French \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmushroom dealers who accuse Eastern European Rroma of mushroom theft. The Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlearnt about the locations of wild mushrooms by working for French mushroom \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdealers and are now harvesting the mushrooms in \u201cillegal\u201d Night and Fog actions. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere are no laws that prohibit collecting mushrooms in state land. The absurd \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taccusation of mushroom theft are reminiscent of earlier accusations such as the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tones levelled against Jews whereby they would poison the wells or enriched \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthemselves illegally on the back of the prosperity of others. The alleged \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmushroom theft shows that Rroma are generally accused of all ills without any \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treal proof.\u00a0 \u201cJean Louis Traversier of the French forest service estimates \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat more than 80 percent of this year\u2019s harvest of 50 tons of mushrooms in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tjust the southeastern Dr\u00f4me and Ard\u00e8che regions were taken by Romanian and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBulgarian citizens to Spain. Locals tend to describe them all as Roma, but \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tofficials, including Mr. Traversier, say it is not possible to conclude that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom their passports. […] They are wrongfully accusing the Roma community,\u00bb \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsaid Francine Jacob, vice president of the French Union of Gypsy Associations. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00abDelinquency exists \u2014 that we cannot deny \u2014 but it\u2019s not systematic.\u00bb<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n