France is facing possible legal action from the European Union over its policy of tearing down makeshift Gypsy settlements and hastily deporting their residents to Eastern Europe.
Since the beginning of the year, at least 8,000 Roma (as the Gypsy people are known) have been rounded up and sent to Romania and Bulgaria,according to France 24. Human rights groups, the Catholic Church and even members of President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative Cabinet have condemned the policy, which many critics believe is designed to boost Sarkozy's popularity at a time of unpopular spending cuts.
Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, today joined that growing wave of criticism. At a press conference in Brussels, she labeled the Roma expulsions "a disgrace" and said the policy was likely illegal under European law.
"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," she said. "This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War."
Reding added that the European Commission -- the EU's executive body -- now had "no choice but to initiate infringement procedures against France," meaning Sarkozy's government could be hauled before the European Court of Justice and hit with hefty fines.
That new tough line is in marked contrast to the EU's relatively meek approach to date. Last week, for instance, Reding announced that the French government was sending "very positive" signals on its Roma policy. And after a meeting with Sarkozy last week, Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said he didn't want to turn the issue into a "controversy."
However, the European Commission changed its tone following the leak of a damning French government document. Throughout the removal campaign, both Sarkozy and his immigration minister, Eric Besson, have claimed that authorities were treating Roma no differently than other EU citizens who didn't meet France's residency rules.
The leaked memo, though -- dated Aug. 5 and signed by Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux's chief of staff -- reminds French officials that a "specific objective" had been set out by Sarkozy. "Three hundred camps or illegal settlements must be evacuated within three months; Roma camps are a priority," the memo read, according to The Guardian. "It is down to the [state representative] in each department to begin a systematic dismantling of the illegal camps, particularly those of the Roma."
Besson later told French TV that he "wasn't a recipient" of the letter "and therefore I didn't need to know about it."
The Guardian notes that France could have violated a 2004 law that guarantees EU citizens -- including Roma originally from Bulgaria or Romania -- freedom of movement across the union's 27 member states. And the EU's charter of fundamental rights also outlaws discrimination on ethnic grounds, which should have stopped French authorities collectively targeting the Gypsies, Europe's largest ethnic minority.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told the BBC that Reding's statement was unhelpful. "We don't think that with this type of statement, that we can improve the situation of the Roma, who are at the heart of our concerns and our action," he said.
If the European Commission does crack down on France, other European nations might also be forced to rethink their apparently discriminatory targeting of the Roma. Italy, for instance, is pushing through legislation that will make it easier to expel Gypsies. And even once-welcoming countries like Sweden and Denmark have begun, albeit quietly, deporting Roma who also hold EU citizenship.
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