Reding slams France on Roma expulsions
European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding today threatened France with legal action over the mass expulsions of Roma.
● French government ‘astonished’ by Reding criticism
● Reding’s statement in full
European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding today threatened France with legal action over the mass expulsion of Roma.
“Enough is enough,” Reding said on Tuesday (14 September), at the end of a damning statement of condemnation, which alluded to the ethnic expulsions of the Second World War and accused French ministers of misleading the Commission.
Reding said that she was personally appalled by a situation, “which gave the impression that people are being removed by a member state in the EU just because they belonged to an ethnic minority”.
“This I thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War,” she said. “Discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or race has no place in Europe.”
Reding was particularly critical of instructions that had been issued on 5 August to local police authorities by the interior minister’s chief of staff, telling them to target Roma for expulsions. The instructions were leaked yesterday, prompting Brice Hortefeux, the interior minister, to issue replacement instructions, omitting mention of the Roma.
Reding said the instructions contradicted “assurances” that she had been given by French ministers and officials in recent weeks that the Roma were not being specifically targeted.
Immediate and swift answers
She said she would ask French authorities “for immediate and swift answers on the matter”.
Fact File
Reding’s statement
“Over the past weeks, the European Commission has been following very closely the developments in France regarding the Roma.
I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a Member State of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority. This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War.
I have made crystal clear my doubts about the legality of the French measures in a public statement on 25 August – a statement that was made in full agreement with Commission President Barroso with whom I worked closely on this issue over summer.
Together with Commissioner Andor and Commissioner Malmström, I submitted a preliminary legal analysis of the French measures on 1 September to President Barroso and the College of Commissioners.
This preliminary analysis stressed, inter alia, that France would be in violation of EU law if the measures taken by the French authorities in applying the Free Movement Directive had targeted a certain group on the basis of nationality, race or ethnic origin.
The College of Commissioners discussed the matter intensely last week in Strasbourg.
During a formal meeting with French ministers Eric Besson and Pierre Lellouche, the Commission – Commissioner Malmström and myself – received political assurances that specific ethnic groups had not been targeted in France. Our doubts remained. This is why last Tuesday, following discussion in the Commission college, I sent a further formal letter to French minister Besson to ask for additional details, which should be sent to the Commission swiftly.
I can only express my deepest regrets that the political assurances given by two French ministers officially mandated to discuss this matter with the European Commission are now openly contradicted by an administrative circular issued by the same government.
The role of the Commission as guardian of the Treaties is made extremely difficult if we can no longer have confidence in the assurances given by two ministers in a formal meeting with two Commissioners and with around 15 senior officials on the table from both sides.
And ladies and gentlemen, this is not a minor offence in a situation of this importance. After 11 years of experience in the Commission, I would even go further: This is a disgrace.
Let me be very clear: Discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or race has no place in Europe. It is incompatible with the values on which the European Union is founded. National authorities who discriminate ethnic groups in the application of EU law are also violating the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which all Member States, including France, have signed up to.
I therefore find it deeply disturbing that a Member State calls so gravely into question, by the actions of its administration, the common values and the law of our European Union.
I also take issue with the statements made by the French Secretary of State for European Affairs yesterday questioning the role of the European Commission as guardian of the Treaties. The Commission’s role as guardian of the Treaties is one of the foundations of the European Union – a Union which is held together not by force, but by respect of the rule of law agree upon by all Member States, including France.
I take note that the French authorities seem themselves to become aware that the developments of this weekend put them into an untenable situation. I also take note that yesterday afternoon the French Minister of the Interior signed a new circular on the matter eliminating the references to a specific ethnic group, the Roma. We are currently looking into the legal implications of this – it is important that not only the words change, but also the behaviour of the French authorities. I am, therefore, asking the French authorities for immediate and swift explanation of the matter.
The Commission will include all these developments, as well as other relevant documentation, into our final legal analysis of the situation. This legal analysis is done in close cooperation by my services, the services of Commissioners Malmström and Andor, as well as with the Legal Service of the President, and I expect it to be completed in the days to come.
I am personally convinced that the Commission will have no choice but to initiate infringement action against France:
Infringement proceedings against France for a discriminatory application of the Free Movement Directive.
And infringement proceedings against France for lack of transposition of the procedural and substantive guarantees under the Free Movement Directive.
I will of course give the French authorities the right to submit comments on the new developments in the course of the next days. But I make it very clear my patience is wearing thin: enough is enough.
No Member State can expect special treatment, especially not when fundamental values and European laws are at stake. This applies today to France. This applies equally to all other Member States, big or small, which would be in a similar situation. You can count on me for that.”
The instructions to police authorities set out the “precise objectives” of targeting and dismantling “as a priority” 300 “illicit” Roma camps across the country. The existence of the memo had not been previously disclosed to the Commission which has been investigating France’s expulsions for the last two weeks. News of its existence appears to have prompted today’s statement, which Reding and senior officials agreed to draft late yesterday.
She said that an initial legal analysis by European commissioners discussed only last week said that France “would be in violation of EU law” if it intentionally targeted the Roma.
Reding said she was “personally convinced” that the European Commission would have “no choice” but to launch infringement procedures against France.
Reding said believed France had improperly applied the EU’s free movement rules by targeting a specific ethnic group or minority and failed to offer those expelled “substantive guarantees” to which they were entitled.
Fast-track infringement procedures
Although no date has yet been fixed for the Commission to decide on whether to launch legal action, Reding said she would push for a “fast-track” infringement procedure. France, apart from a legal and public rebuke, could be fined by the European Court of Justice if it is found in violation of the rules.
Reding added that France might also be in violation of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
A French diplomat had no immediate comment on Reding’s statement.
Barroso backing
Officials said that Barroso had given his full backing to Reding’s decision to take action.
Pierre Lellouche, France’s EU affairs minister, had yesterday (13 September) challenged the Commission’s right to decide whether member states were complying with EU law. “The French people are the guardian of the treaties,” he said.
Claude Moraes, a UK Socialist MEP and a member of the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee, said: “The French government is not above the rule of law and now the Commission is making that fact clear to President Sarkozy.”
“The beginning of action against a large founder member of the European Union sends a huge warning signal to Italy, Sweden, Denmark and any other member state which feels it can expel EU citizens based on their ethnicity,” Moraes added.
Alexander Alvaro, a German Liberal MEP, said he welcomed Reding’s announcement. “The documents from the French interior ministry that have come to light in recent days prove that the authorities deliberately wanted to make an example of the Roma,” he said.
“It is now clear that EU citizens are being deprived of their fundamental rights. I share the clear assessment of the commissioner that the French authorities have knowingly abused European law,” he said.
Alvaro said he expected the French government to stop the expulsions “with immediate effect”.
Martin Schulz, the leader of the Socialists and Democrats group in the Parliament, welcomed Reding’s “change of position”. He said Reding had “strongly defended” the French government at the Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg last week, even though what she had now recognised was “quite clear to the vast majority of people”. Schulz said “a lot of questions remain” about how the Commission had handled the issue.
‘Better late than never’
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-president of the Greens, welcomed the Commission’s decision to criticise the expulsion of Roma, but said it was “better late than never”.
He urged the Commission to follow the criticism with “immediate legal action against all those member states with anti-Roma policies” and called for an immediate halt to all deportations. “Every day of inaction represents a further day in which France can continue with its disgraceful and discriminatory policies against the Roma, which clearly contravene basic EU law.”