A Million Euros for the Roma

A member of the Front National, Yann Redekker, writing at his blog, Vox FN, quotes an article from Le Point dated October 25, 2010. It concerns the payment by France of one million euros towards the resettling of Roma gypsies in Rumania:

Minister of Immigration Eric Besson announced on Monday the implementation in 2011 of a new plan to help the Roma gypsies, who have been expelled from France, reintegrate themselves in their homeland, notably Rumania. France will launch this one-million euro program "without delay" rather than wait for a European plan "to increase the use of structural funds by the member States towards the integration of the Roma", according to a communiqué from the minister. The French program will "offer the Rumanian nationals illegally in France a veritable accompaniment to their reintegration through the perennial creation of activities and jobs." In addition, the communiqué says that "some French territorial collectivities could become involved."

Note: In other words, having expelled several thousand Roma, France is now commited to paying their expenses IN THEIR HOMELAND! But why France and not Rumania itself? An article from the Telegraph indicates that Rumania is willing and able to take care of them. And furthermore, why should French "collectivities" - meaning departments and regions - get "involved"?

The communiqué goes on:

"Eric Besson has asked the director of OFII (French Bureau of Immigration and Integration) to organize a mission in Rumania in the coming weeks, in order to finalize a partnership with the Rumanian authorities." As a result, France will place a technical assistant at the disposal of the Rumanian government as of January 1, 2011. This person will work with the secretary of State in charge of the social integration of the Roma.

The OFII financed 146 reintegration plans in Rumania amounting to 709,560 euros in 2009, and 73 others since the beginning of 2010 amounting to 354,780 euros. Between January 1 and October 17, 2010, 8,601 Rumanian nationals have been sent back home, of whom 1,154 were forced, and 7,447 were voluntary departures.

The article closes with an indication that the responsibility for reintegrating the Roma belongs to the host countries provided the Roma lived there legally for at least three months.

Note: Totally confusing. The host country is accountable only if the Roma were there legally. But what if they were there illegally? Then who is responsible? Would it not be the original homeland, such as Rumania or Bulgaria?

The issue here is that France has to bow to Brussels and pay dearly for its decision to deport the Roma. What has France gained by this expulsion? A severe black-balling by Brussels, a treasury poorer by one million euros, a responsibility to re-settle people who are not French and who were in France illegally, and the realization that there is no sovereign French State.

Here is Yann Redeker's comment:

You could fall off your chair reading this. While France is in the middle of one of the worst periods of her history, in terms of social and societal issues, the government, to please the Empire of Brussels, opens its pursestrings (and the purse is not at all full) to finance "plans" that are phony from the start, since we all know very well that the goal of the expelled Roma is to come back here as soon as they can! Deplorable!

An English-language article in the European Voice describes the assistance being given to the Roma, including (in the last paragraph) mention of France and the changes to be made made to French immigration laws "to ensure they fall in line with EU free movement rules".

What are these changes? I can't answer that precisely, but they are being made in response to threats from Brussels, specifically from Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner of Justice who spent most of September engaged in open conflict with Nicolas Sarkozy over the expulsion of the Roma, drawing comparisons with the Second World War. When he promised to change the French law, she backed off, saying she was satisfied.

An article in Ouest-France has the following:

On Friday (October 15), before the ultimatum from the EU expired, France promised to modify its national laws as a result of the controversial expulsion of the Roma gypsies. This will avoid any more fulminations from Brussels and bring closure to an exceptionally contentious debate.

The changes to the French national law mean that the European directive of 2004 on the freedom of movement of EU citizens will be transposed into French legislation.

Note: This is not news. Most European directives have to be transposed into the existing laws of the member States. In this way, sovereignty is gradually snuffed out.

The French have stated that measures assuring greater transparency will be inserted into their national law.

The 2004 directive imposed strict procedural guarantees for European citizens sent back to their homeland, such as the Rumanian and Bulgarian Roma who have been leaving France since August.

However, according to Le Figaro, Minister of Interior Brice Hortefeux had insisted that the expulsions were justified by the 2004 directive which stipulated:

"The member States can prevent freedom of movement and residency of a citizen of the EU or of a member of his family, whatever his nationality, for reasons of civil order, public safety or public health."

Did Sarkozy expel the Roma to show off how tough he is on immigration? And if so, has he been play-acting with Viviane Reding? Or did he really believe he could legally expel them, and has he learned (as if he didn't know) that France is no longer a sovereign State? The Roma are given money to leave France, but once back home in Rumania, they are still wards of the French State, thanks to the one million euro mentioned above. Furthermore, if they want to come back to France, they will be given the necessary funds for the return trip! How many times can one Rumanian gypsy receive money from France?

In the end though, it was so much easier to expel (or pretend to expel) the Roma than to expel North Africans. France is not under threat from Rumania or Bulgaria, but one can only imagine the reactions of Algeria and Morocco if a French leader ever attempted to repatriate large numbers of citizens from former French colonies.

Below, the EU Parliament displays their "displeasure" over the expulsion of the Roma. Their signs read "Equal Rights for All Citizens".


Below, a scene in the city park of Issou, where gypsies set up a large camp and left mountains of trash, early in September, disrupting the re-opening of schools. The politically unaffiliated mayor of the city, Martine Chevalier, was firm in her decision to expel them and to refuse to negotiate with them. At one point the gypsies, armed with baseball bats, threatened to attack pedestrians. After about two weeks, they moved on to another city run by Socialists. I have no more news of their fate. The story of the invasion of Issou was carried by Novopress.