Nicolas Sarkozy is one of Europe’s more unprincipled leaders. With his opinion poll ratings dangerously low and the French Socialist Party slowly reviving, the President has reverted to type and made a scapegoat of France’s relatively small Roma migrant community. As with earlier campaigns on immigration, Sarkozy is seeking to reinforce his centre-right core constituency while diverting attention from the state of the economy.
Sarkozy’s opponents say his actions are illegal under EU law. The free movement of EU citizens is not an unconditional right, but the expulsion of Romanians who have not applied for a work permit should only take place on grounds of security, threat to public order or undue burden placed on social assistance schemes. And then expulsion can only follow if each case is assessed “on an individual and personal basis”. Under free movement directives, it is clear to the European Commission that this process has not been followed. The Roma have committed no crimes, so their expulsion amounts to a removal of a group based on ethnic origin. Its report comes from three respected commissioners, two from the centre-right, Viviane Reding and Cecilia Malmstrom, and László Andor from the Socialists and Democrats.
It was left to the far right to defend the French government in the European Parliament. Even in Sarkozy’s own party, there is deep unease at his actions, which stir uncomfortable memories. In Vichy France, men and women were separated and children removed from their families when the substantial Roma and traveller population was deported to the camps. The deportation of 300 Roma now has prompted recollection of collaboration, anti-Semitism and racism during the Second World War. But Sarkozy will not worry much. He thinks his actions are popular with centre-right and far-right voters in France. As with the burka ban, he knows that French Socialists at home are unlikely to go out on a limb. French Socialists in the European Parliament have been uncompromising in their condemnation, but Sarkozy is a past master of putting the centre left on the back foot.
There are serious implications for the whole of Europe. Sarkozy has called on Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain to form a “super group” of member states to take hold of immigration policy. The European Commission has not been invited – presumably it places too much emphasis on the rule of law and fundamental rights.
The Roma are perhaps the most isolated and misunderstood minority in the EU. They face severe poverty, segregation and discrimination in their countries of origin. This has contributed to organised crime within their communities. I am among the MEPs who have seen Roma poverty first hand in Romania and been critical of the way the Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovakian, Czech and Hungarian governments have squandered EU funds which were supposed to improve the situation. These countries are EU members, but their governments have swung sharply to the right in recent months, with negative consequences for minorities. Will the British Government fall in with Sarkozy or stand up for the fundamental human rights the EU was built on? If the EU is a community of values, then how it treats its most vulnerable minority is a major test.
Claude Moraes is Labour MEP for London and Socialist Group spokesperson on civil liberties, justice and home affairs in the European Parliament
